And So It Goes
by Tecumseh Dean
Summary: George and Fred team up with Mira Dean, a detective, attractive, fun witch for Order business. GM, FHr, GH, and RL?. Formerly Verdegrises. Now: Christmastime!
1. Introductions

George raised his glass and clinked it with his twin's. They tilted their heads and downed their firewhiskey: it had been a long week.

And it was only Thursday.

Business was doing fine, (as usual), but the Weasley twins' personal lives were not flourishing as they should have been for two young, attractive and wealthy men. George had caught Angelina, Fred's on-again, off-again girlfriend in the act with one of her Quidditch teammates, and had told Fred. (Obviously). Fred wasn't completely surprised; he had almost suspected Angelina to be romancing at least one of her teammates, but he was still heartbroken. Although not as heartbroken as George would have expected him to be; he still held _some_ of his humor. And George's love-life? At the moment, it was pretty much nonexistent, but he was okay with it, what with Fred being upset...George knew he had to stick by his brother-

-even if that meant a Firewhiskey during lunch. On a Thursday.

"Well, m'boy, I figure we should go back and make sure Verity hasn't "accidentally" blown up the store."

Fred chuckled, "I think she wants to keep her job, Georgie."

"You never know with that one..." The two men left some galleons on their table, and waved good-bye to Tom, and exited the Leaky Cauldron into the hustle and bustle that was Diagon Alley. They decided to walk back to their store: well George had decided for the both of them since Fred didn't really care. As they passed the Quidditch Supply store, George dragged his brother along, not wanting him to dwell on Quidditch...

which would lead to Angelina...

and then perhaps a rant on how she cheated on him...

or worse, he might actually break down.

Thankfully, Fred had only broken down once, and that was immediately after George had told him, and after he threw some items in their flat against the wall, and after he had "gone to bed". George heard him practically weeping, and went in with a large bottle of Firewhiskey and some chocolate.

Fred had looked at him funny when he produced the chocolate, but George had only shrugged and said, "Works for girls is what I hear."

The men arrived back to their store to find Verity, the only other employee to be reading some Muggle magazine behind the counter, and blowing and popping bubbles with her chewing gum. "Verity dear, we're home!" George said cheerily as he leaned against the counter.

Verity merely rolled her eyes, "Hullo, dear."

George grinned and asked, "Any messages?" while batting his eyelashes.

"No, Mr. Weasley," she replied without any real emotion and continued to flip through her magazine.

"Fred," George cried dramatically, "why doesn't Verity see how much I care about her?"

Verity looked up, ready to play this daily game she and her employers played, "Why, I do know, Mr. Weasley, but it's against company policy!" She put down her magazine and flipped her blond hair behind her shoulder.

Fred rolled his eyes watching this little show and said sullenly, "Verity, dear, why must you encourage the bloke?"

George followed his brother to the back, shrugging to Verity, who went back to flipping through her magazine.

"You all right?"

Fred didn't look up from his desk where he was currently reviewing a flaw with one of their trick wands, "Fine."

George knew better than to press, so let his brother be, as he went to work on making more of their Love Potion Line products.

"We'll need to start hiring more employees if we plan to open in Hogsmeade."

"Yeah, but we'll need to buy property first."

"We need to hop on that."

"Hm."

There was a faint tinkle, but the brothers continued their work. Verity would handle the customers. For whatever reason, Tuesdays and Thursdays were usually slower than the rest of the week.

"Mr. Weasley," Verity's voice filled their office via a loudspeaker, "there's a witch here who wants to see your Defense line."

"You want this one, Fred?" Fred didn't respond. "Fred? FRED?"

"Hm, what? Ah, you go ahead, ol' chap, I'm in the middle of this, and I think I can fix it..."

George nodded, and straightening his robes, walked out into the showroom where Verity pointed him over to a corner where a raven-haired witch was looking at the Canary Creams.

"Miss?"

The young witch turned around, her black robe open to reveal a mid-length denim skirt and a white oxford. "Yes," she replied, grinning, "you must be Mr. Weasley," she extended a small, tanned hand which George shook.

"Oh please, it's George, " he smiled, her grin contagious.

"Mira Dean," she said, "a pleasure to meet you."

"And you, Mira. Now what can I do for you?"

"Ah yes," George noticed her green-grey eyes twinkle, but before he could examine her face any further, she continued, "my father is a Muggle Private Investigator," at George's blank expression she tried again, "a detective, a...Sherlock Holmes or James Bond of sorts."

"Oooh, ok, right." He tried not to look to sheepish when she smiled again.

"Anyway, he saw an advertisement for your Defense Against the Dark Arts line, and he thought that this would help with his tougher cases."

George looked skeptical, "Muggle cases?"

Mira nodded, but added, "We do get a few magical cases, but I usually deal with those."

"Ah," George said, starting to smile again, "I see. So you're like a magical Nancy Drew."

Mira laughed softly, "I'm surprised you know who she is," she shook her head slightly, "but I hope I'm a bit smarter and cooler than Nancy."

George smiled, "I'm sure you are."

Mira noticed he was about to say something, but before he could say another word she put her hand up and pulled a thick envelope out of her robe, "ID for my father and I, his license to practice, his high school and university diploma, my Hogwarts diploma-"

"Hogwarts?"

"Ravenclaw, year behind the infamous Weasley twins."

"Infamous?" George feigned hurt.

"More like famous to the students, infamous to the teachers."

"Ah, much better."

She rolled her eyes playfully and continued, "My Healer-in-Training card, and references from clients for both of us."

"A Healer and a Nancy Drew, eh?"

Mira's light pink lips curved upwards, "Until I become a licensed Healer next week, more Healer than PI."

George nodded, "Ok, well, all this looks sufficient, I'll show you to our stock and just confirm all this with my partner, so follow me." He led her to a closet about the size of a toilet that was off to the side of the main showroom, and excused himself so he could discuss this with Fred.

"Oi! Fred!"

"Oi, what?"

"Just here, look at these and confirm that this Mira Dean can purchase some Defense products."

Fred flipped through the envelope's contents. "Private Investigator for Muggles?"

"She does magical cases."

"Muggles?" Fred seemed skeptical of the entire idea.

"Come on, what harm would an Instant Darkness Powder do?"

"Hmm...all right, you met the girl..."

"Jolly good," George went back to the small room where Mira was holding a checklist of what she needed.

"Ready then?" Mira nodded and he led her to the register. "You want these delivered?"

Mira bit her bottom lip, and George couldn't help but notice this sexy act that was done so innocently. "When would they be delivered?"

George stepped on his own foot to bring him back to reality and disregard Mira's lips for the moment. Thankfully, Mira took no notice of this strange act. "Well, we have a limited supply at the moment, so you can take some right now if you want them as soon as possible, or we can have them all delivered by next Friday."

Mira thought for a moment and said, "I'll take what you have now, and have the rest delivered."

George nodded, and taking her checklist, went back to the closet to take the necessary items. He came back out with a bag full of Instant Darkness Powders and Decoy Detonators. "No Invisible hats?" he asked teasingly.

She smiled. "Nope, not today."

"all right, it's 35 galleons and 5 sickles total for everything, including the stuff that you want delivered."

She handed him the money, "Is there a form I should fill out for the delivery?"

"Ah, yes," he handed her the form and a quill, and as she wrote, George was finally able to admire her beauty. She had shoulder length jet-black hair that wasn't so black it was blue, but was extremely black. She constantly ran her ring-adourned hand through it, George had noticed, and was currently twirling a few strands of it; 'A nervous habit', George thought. Her eyes were slightly large, but still beautiful, a mesmerizing mixture of bright emerald green and a steel grey. George had never seen eyes like hers before, and he was taken aback by the intensity she had shown before while grinning. Her smile was contagious, and as George had realized, she had lovely lips, lips he wouldn't mind kissing...he mentally slapped himself. She was short, but not too short: she came up to about his chin, so he figured she was about 5'5" or 5'6". And she was, well, she wasn't _drop-dead gorgeous_, (not many girls were, in George's opinion), but she was still beautiful; she didn't wear formfitting clothes the way many witches today had, but wore comfortable clothes that were still sexy. She were minimal make-up from what George could tell, but then again, what with her alluring eyes, there wasn't much make-up could do for her. No matter how cliché he sounded, George could only think of one word for Mira Dean: lovely.

George was ripped from his reverie when Mira sighed loudly and faced him again. "Finished!" She looked at George's own green-hazel eyes, and George noticed hers twinkle again. "And the rest will be delivered..."

"By next Friday."

"Perfect," she extended her hand, "thanks so much, George. It was a pleasure meeting you and doing business with you."

"Oh, the pleasure's all mine, Mira."

She smiled, her eyes still twinkling. "Hope to see you again soon." And before George could reply, she had left, the door twinkling behind her.

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A/N: So what did everyone think so far? This is my first Harry Potter fic, so PLEASE any and all criticism is MUCH appreciated. I've done some Tamora Pierce fics, so, um, I know how to write fanfiction...

I don't know how long this story is going to be, but I'm going to rate it the equivalent of PG-13 for now, but it may end up being M later on, not sure yet...it's going to be George/OC, and I'm basing Mira around a little bit of how I'd _like_ to be, and also Veronica Mars, hence all this detective stuff...so this chapter is only the intro, and I'll try to update ASAP...

-Tate Dean


	2. The Order

Disclaimer: Need I even bother?

--------

The brothers locked up their store at the usual time for a slow Thursday, 9 o'clock. After bidding Verity goodnight ("She's going on a date with Lee? AGAIN?"), the twins Apparated to their flat.

"Mum said 9:15 right?"

"Yeah, might as well go now, Mum'll want to feed us..."

Fred grunted and shed his bright sapphire robes off to don black ones instead. Mrs. Weasley despised the twins' choice in work-robe colors more than anything. Except maybe Voldemort. At Fred's grunt, George pretended to puke. "Fred, m'boy, that's entirely unattractive."

"I try, brother."

"Try to what? Be repulsive?"

"If only I could be half as repulsive as you."

"Oh, ouch," George said clutching his heart with one arm, and sliding his other into his black robes.

Fred rolled his eyes and Apparated to a secluded part of Grimmauld Place. George tried to smile and thought, 'Well, at least I got him to act quasi-normal for a minute...' before he too Apparated to Grimmauld Place.

Before the twins could even mount the final step to 12 Grimmauld Place, Mrs. Weasley had thrown it open and bombarded her sons with kisses.

"Mum!" Fred tried to escape the flurry of kisses, "it's only been a week!"

Molly stepped back, slightly embarrassed from her son's almost harsh tone, and tucking a stray piece of fiery red hair behind her ear replied, "I worry is all."

George smiled, trying to ease the obvious tension that Fred had started, "Got any food?"

Molly, forgetting Fred's greeting was exasperated, "You haven't eaten yet! Well come in, come in!" and she ushered the twins in to the front hall.

Fred continued in to the kitchen, still seemingly grumpy when Molly whispered to George, "How is he doing?"

George watched his brother's receding figure and whispered back, "Under the circumstances, fairly well."

Molly nodded and scurried in to the kitchen, "Beef stew is coming right up, boys."

Fred and George sat down at the large oak kitchen table in what was now officially Harry's house. They sat in silence, waiting hungrily for their food when Mr. Weasley came up the basement stairs.

"Molly? It's almost 9:15 and almost everyone is here already," he finally noticed the boys, "oh, hullo boys."

"Hullo, Dad."

"So could we begin?" Arthur finished. Mrs. Weasley nodded preoccupied and shoved two bowls of beef stew into the twins' hands and beckoned them down the dim stairwell.

Fred and George sat down on a small couch and nodded to the other Order members situated around the dim room. Remus, looking as haggard as ever, smiled at them as they sat down, but then looked forlornly at the chair next to him that was empty. Fred sighed inwardly, knowing that the chair was for Tonks, and couldn't help but sympathize for the older man; "At least he knows for certain that Tonks loves him..."

Fred's thoughts were interrupted when Arthur unofficially began the meeting, "Good evening everyone. Not too much to discuss tonight besides how our individual progress is going. Obviously, Minerva, Kingsley and Tonks couldn't make it this evening, but they sent us owls, as did Harry, and all seems to be fine at Hogwarts."

"How is Harry and the gang, Arthur?" Mad-Eye growled from his corner, his eye rolling back and forth. George quickly covered his laugh from Mad-Eye's use of the word 'gang'. He nudged Fred with his elbow and out of the corner of his eye, saw Fred was thinking the same thing.

"They're fine. He's anxious of course, as we all are, but fine. Nothing out of the ordinary is going on at Hogwarts."

George and Fred shared another quick look. They knew about the horcruxes of course; Harry, Ron and Hermione had shared the information with the twins and Ginny, knowing that it would be best if someone on the inside of the Order knew about the horcruxes, in the rare chance that someone came across them. It had been a difficult decision for Harry, but he knew he could trust the Weasley twins just as much as Ron and Hermione, no matter how big of pranksters they were.

There was suddenly a loud knock, and a muffled screaming from the matriarch of the Black family's portrait, (someone had finally been able to glue the drape to the frame so that her agonizing screams were muffled. Molly sprang up, and as numerous bewildered eyes watched, practically ran upstairs to answer the door. She returned minutes later, a young witch walking down behind her.

"Mira?" George asked, standing up in disbelief.

Mira's eyes lit up when she saw the familiar face, "Well, hi, George!"

Mrs. Weasley's eyes were about to tear up when she said, "You two know each other, George dear?"

"Actually Mum, we just met this afternoon."

Arthur stood and extended his hand, "I'm Arthur Weasley, I'm assuming you're Mira Dean?"

She nodded, still smiling broadly, "Pleasure to meet you," her smile faltered slightly when she continued, "I didn't mean to be late..."

Arthur smiled, his eyes soft, "Don't worry, you can just sit-"

"-right here between Fred and George," Molly interjected, and practically pushed Mira to the couch, where Fred and George parted instantly.

Arthur coughed when Molly continued to stand in front of the couch, her face beaming, and her hands clapped together in front of her face. She jumped at the sound of her husband's cough and, trying to appear calm, walk back to her seat. Remus covered his mouth, trying not to laugh.

"I'm Fred," he whispered to the girl now sitting next to him.

"Mira," she whispered back, smiling, "I assume you were in the back when I came in this afternoon?"

Fred nodded, but at the sound of Mad-Eye talking, both their eyes snapped back to attention.

Upon seeing Mad-Eye, Mira restrained a small yelp. She had never seen anyone like him, even though she was a Healer and used to seeing victims of fire or abuse, she had never seem someone so, so, deformed as Mad-Eye who was still able to fully function.

"How do we know she's trustworthy?" She heard Mad-Eye growl, and noticed his one, spazztic eye was rotating wildly in his head.

She fidgeted slightly under his gaze, but kept her composure. Sitting up straighter, she pursued her lips in defiance and replied, "You know I'm trustworthy because Dumbledore invited me to the Order," she saw that Mad-Eye was about to question this so she continued, "he invited me because he knew I'd join to fight You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters in a heartbeat since I witnessed them torture and kill my mother when I was two."

There was an eerie silence in the room after Mira stopped speaking, and Mad-Eye, although he would never admit was uncomfortable, instead took a swig of a flask that he produced from behind his back.

Remus coughed slightly and replied, "I think she's trustworthy."

Mira tried to smile upon finally seeing her old professor, but the image of her mother being tortured by masked figures lingered in her head until she heard Mad-Eye speak again.

"Aye, but Dumbledore has seemed to make mistakes before..."

George noticed a sudden change in Mira's stance, and if he had been Mad-Eye, would have been fearful for his life. Her green-grey eyes narrowed in a terrifying glare that could have turned anyone to stone, and her hand started to reach into her robe as she started to rise off the couch. George noticed this, and tugged on her robe so that she was on the couch again, and patted the arm that was reaching for her wand.

Mira, knowing George was trying to calm her down, took a deep breath, but before she could say anything Arthur cut in, "Mad-Eye, I'm sure you didn't mean that. If Dumbledore personally invited Mira, I think it's only fair that we give her a chance. Besides, we're trying to expand our group."

Mad-Eye's one eye stayed on Arthur as the other spun around wildly, and mumbling incoherently, took another swig from his flask.

There was silence for a few seconds before a man named Henry questioned Mira, "What do you do for a living, Mira?"

Mira smiled, a fake smile of course, but a smile nonetheless and responded, "I'm a Healer-in-Training and also a part-time detective with my father."

Henry looked skeptical, "A Muggle detective?"

"Yes," Mira replied, slightly agitated 'why is being a Muggle detective so odd to them?', "but I also deal with magical cases, which is also why Dumbledore was so keen on me joining," Mira said this last bit while staring defiantly at Mad-Eye.

Remus leaned forward slightly, "Hello again, Mira."

"Professor," Mira grinned. Professor Lupin had been one of her favorite professors while at Hogwarts, and she had been sad to see him leave.

Remus smiled, "You can call me Remus now, really."

"I'll try, Professor."

Remus's eyes twinkled with amusement and continued, "Can you track or do background checks for witches and wizards?"

Mira frowned slightly, "It's not as easy to do background checks for witches or wizards, considering we don't use computers, but I have enough sources inside the Ministry, along with numerous bugs that help me. And tracking is easy enough," she grinned, "I'm pretty much an expert."

Remus sank back into his chair, smiling, "Did you finish top of your class like I thought you would, Ms. Dean?"

Mira grinned again, "Third, professor, third."

Remus looked at Mad-Eye, "I'd say the Order could use a smart, resourceful witch like Mira, don't you, Moody?"

Again, Moody mumbled incoherently, and Mira couldn't help but smile.

The mood around the room was now significantly lighter, so Arthur knew it was a good time to bring up his next topic. "Well, I believe it's high-time our youngest members got their own missions from the Order."

Molly paled slightly, "Arthur, you can't be serious..."

"Molly, Fred and George are 19, and Mira's 18, I think they're old enough to do some smaller missions."

Molly, knowing she wouldn't win this fight, reluctantly nodded her consent.

"Well, you three will be in charge of an informal search for Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape, as well as try to recruit as many new members as possible."

"Wicked!" Fred and George nearly shouted in unison as Mira smiled and politely thanked Arthur from her seat.

Arthur adjourned the meeting, and before any more members of the Order (mainly Henry), could bombard Mira with more annoying questions, the twins dragged her over to a small table in a corner.

"You all right there, Ms. Dean?" George winked.

Mira smiled, "Yea, thanks."

Before Fred could say anything, Remus walked over to the trio, "That was quite a display, Mira."

Mira, trying not to grin, asked as innocently as possible, "What on Earth are you talking about?"

Remus smiled and engulfed Mira in a hug that she had clearly not expected. She hugged him back, and once he let go said, "The Order's very lucky to have a such a smart, clever, and dare I say manipulating witch."

Mira feigned looking hurt, "Hmph! I only manipulate those I need information from!"

Remus smiled knowingly and, looking at his watch, said goodbye to the three, and wishing them luck on their newly assigned mission.

Fred looked slightly perturbed at the reunion and asked, "We you guys best of friends back at Hogwarts?"

Mira smiled, "He was my favorite teacher, and didn't reprimand my behavior in class."

Fred and George, looked at each other and shrugged. "Riiiight," George finally said, "should we begin our plans for how we're going to tackle our mission?"

Mira looked at her watch and frowned, "I have an early session tomorrow at St. Mungo's, so we can you guys meet at my dad's office tomorrow evening?"

"Sure," George said, "we'll bring take-out."

"Perfect, see you tomorrow."

"See you."

As Mira walked away to say good-bye to and thank Molly and Arthur, George couldn't help but notice how even though her robes were not exactly formfitting, they still showed her curves.

"She IS gorgeous," Fred whispered to his brother.

"Told you."

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A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Any and all criticisms are welcome! Please review! And thanks to those who have given this story a chance!


	3. Preparations

DISCLAIMER: Anything you recognize...not mine. ---------

Mira, Apparting back to her flat from Grimmauld Place, flicked on the lights and taking off her cloak, went to the fridge to look for a snack. "Pizza...grapes...cheese...ah! pasta!" Excited for cold penne pasta, she pulled out the container, and grabbing a beer flopped down onto her couch and flipped on the telly. Looking at the clock on her wall and seeing it was 10pm, she switched to BBC-4 and squeaked, "LITTLE BRITAIN!" Trying to drink her beer while watching Little Britain proved difficult as she was laughing every two seconds.

When her favorite show was finally over, Mira used her wand to banish the container to the sink and her beer to the recycling bin, and yawning, went to her bedroom to peel off her clothes. She quickly slipped on a pair of boxers and a loose tank and after brushing her teeth, hopped into bed hoping to get a goodnight's sleep. That proved difficult when all she could think about was a certain green-hazel eyed, red-haired, prankster.

She had only met George today, and yet she felt like she knew him completely. Mira, as did the rest of Hogwarts, knew all about the Weasley twins' crazy pranks and jokes that they played on anyone and everyone, and when she was younger, had always looked up to them. They could be sneaky and sly, funny and loud, but she realized now that they were also very serious businessmen, and she admired that. She had nothing against Fred of course...or maybe she did. He seemed almost distant and cold that evening, but for a good reason she was sure. But George...maybe she liked him more because his eyes had more green in them, or his hair was almost a shade darker than Fred's... But she didn't really like George, did she? She'd only known him for maybe 8 hours.

She thought of all those movies she saw during the summer by herself, where the girl would fall in love with the guy in high school immediately and then want to marry him. It made her sick, and yet she always watched these movies, as though they would make her feel better about herself. 'I'll never be so idiotic and stupid like that,' she'd say, 'I'll never let love blind me like that,' she'd say. But was this love? Impossible! She barely knew George! And why was she thinking about this already when she'd just met the guy? It's not like she hadn't had boyfriends before... She had had a few boyfriends at Hogwarts...a few. As in two. She'd kissed a few more than that. As in four. And her boyfriends had only lasted a month at most. She was never very good at commiment...she'd get tired of her boyfriends quickly, and would dump then. Although her boyfriends never really seemed that heartbroken... That made Mira think. Why hadn't they been more heartbroken? Her boyfriends had never actually said, 'I love you', so maybe that was why. She wasn't sure. And she never really asked any of her friends. Well the few friends she could have asked at least. Mira was not a loner at Hogwarts, she had friends. Only a few close ones, and numerous acquaintances since many wanted her notes from class. Which of course, she would never give them. A lot of her classmates were frightened of her because she could be very bitchy and very scheming or disruptive. But being intelligent and a detective did that to you. She could almost figure someone out within a few days. She'd know who they were, what they thought and why, what they liked and why, and she was rarely wrong. Maybe that's why she'd get so bored with boyfriends...

'Here's hoping George is more interesting...'

---------

Mira walked into St. Mungo's that morning ready for another boring, uneventful afternoon. And it was, for the most part. Except for some interesting news she heard from her friend Charlie.

Charlie was a fellow Healer-in-Training, but was two years older than Mira. He had been in Hufflepuff, and after graduating Hogwarts had traveled America for a year before working at a desk job at the Ministry. He had hated his desk job, so instead, signed up to be a Healer-in-Training. Mira didn't know how long he'd last being a Healer. Charlie was one of those people who just seemed like he'd constantly be moving around to different places and different jobs.

Charlie and Mira became friends their first day of Training simply because everyone else had been paired up already, leaving the two to be partners for the rest of their training. Charlie's girlfriend was a waitress at some high-class restaurant, and so she heard all sorts of gossip. Which was one benefit (for Mira), of being Charlie's friend.

"Got any exciting and new gossip for me, Charl?" Mira asked as they finally sat down with their lunch trays at the hospital cafeteria. Charlie bit a piece of his biscuit and thought.

"Yea, actually...Diane said she heard from Dennis who heard from Parker that Draco Malfoy and Professor Snape had been seen entering Azkaban."

Mira spat out the sip of water she had taken, much to Charlie's dismay. "Pardon?"

"Yes, excuse you."

"No, no, what did you say?"

"That Malfoy and Snape had been seen entering Azkaban..."

"For what?" Mira could barely believe what she was being told.

"Probably to see the elder Malfoy."

"Not to get him out, that's way to risky."

"Probably, but ya never know..." Charlie took another bite of his biscuit, finishing it and chewing vigorously.

Mira didn't notice as she shifted her shepard's pie around her plate. 'Malfoy and Snape entering Azkaban?'

"Did anyone see them leave?"

"Not that I know of...why?"

Mira tried to look as innocent as possible, and smiled, her eyes brightening. "Oh, no reason, just wondering."

Charlie nodded and continued his lunch as Mira continued to think. 'As unlikely as this whole scenario sounds, I might as well tell George and Fred later tonight...it could be a lead for us...'

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Fridays were always busy at Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes joke shop, so Fred and George weren't able to close their shop until 7pm that evening unlike the usual 6 on Fridays. So George quickly wrote a note to Mira explaining why they were going to be late, and attached it to the shop's official owl, Ferguson. The twins bid adieu to Verity and walked to their favorite deli down Diagon Alley.

As they waited for their order to be made, George went to the restroom. Not even bothering to use the toilet, he walked over to the mirror and started fussing with his hair. As he realized what he was doing, he lowered his hand. 'Why do I care what my hair looks like? I'm just going to be eating with Mira and Fred. Two friends, what do I care?' He convinced himself and upon leaving the bathroom said to himself, 'I don't care'.

Fred, grabbing the bags rolled his eyes at his twin. "Relieved yourself then?"

George, without hesitating made a disgusted face, "And why do you want to know this, brother?"

"Just looking out for my twin is all," Fred said, and as the twins exited the deli smiled to himself, knowing all to well what George had been doing.

George and Fred Apparated to an alley off of the street Dean Investigations was located. They walked to the end of the alley, but noticing a Muggle, George whispered, "Robes," and with a flick of his wand, their robes had been removed. The twins turned out of the alley and stopped when they reached a building where a small sign read "Dean Investigations". They walked up the stairs and reached a glass door:

_DEAN INVESTIGATIONS Thomas Dean, PI and Mira Dean, Assistant_

George opened the door to a small waiting room that held two benches and a main desk with a bell. He tapped the bell, and looked around at the two closed doors, one read Thomas Dean and the other Mira Dean.

Mira's door opened, and she peeked her head out. Seeing Fred and George, she grinned and opened the door wider. "Food?" The twins held up their bags, and Mira ushered them into her spacious office. "Welcome to my second home," she waved around to her couch, filing cabinets, bookcases, desk and chairs. "Sit! Sit! Break out the food!"

They sat down around her desk and dished out the food while she moved her cameras and laptop from her desk. "What's that?" George asked, pointing to a computer-type looking thing that was on the bookcase.

"That's hopefully my way into the Ministry Files," Mira said, her eyes twinkling almost evilly.

George noticed and said dryly to his brother, "Should we be afraid that she could be more crazy than us?"

Fred tried to smirk, but failed and merely replied, "I am a little."

Mira and George caught each other while Fred took a bite out of his sandwich and George mouthed, "Heartbroken." Mira nodded, knowing all too well that Fred wasn't going to be acting like himself for a little while.

The trio ate for a few seconds when Mira broke the silence abruptly, "So what are you guys thinking?"

George almost chocked on his pasta at her question: he had been thinking about what she'd look like without her jeans and grey polo on. Why was he thinking of Mira sexually? Well, besides the obvious...he was a guy, she was a girl...well not really a girl, more like a, a lady. But they'd be working together in a professional manner...he couldn't be thinking about her sexually if they were on the trail of Malfoy or Snape.

"About our mission..."

"Oh," George took a swig of butterbeer and said, "Well, we figured they're not at the Malfoy Mansion since Aurors have raided it at least twice in the past few months, and we don't know where Snape lived during the summer months."

"Hm...yea." Mira stared at her pasta dish for a moment. "Oh yea! My partner told me..."

"Partner?" Fred asked, his eyebrows lost in his thick red hair. Mira rolled her eyes,

"No, not like that. My partner for my Healer-in-Training classes."

"Ohh..." George began to breath again, and Fred smiled almost thankfully.

"Men," she mumbled. "Anyway, my Healer-in-Training partner, Charlie, told me that there were rumors going around that Malfoy and Snape had been seen at Azkaban to see the elder Mr. Malfoy.

George almost choked (again) on his food and Fred sputtered, "What!"

Mira nodded, "I don't know if I believe it myself, sounds a bit dodgy, but it's at least one lead..."

"...but how do we follow that kind of lead?"

Mira bit her lower lip and George crossed his legs underneath the desk. "Lemme think. It'd probably be sketchy if we went and talked to another inmate or guard...although." Mira paused, swiveled her chair around and pulled open a filing cabinet and started thumbing through thick files.

George peered over his desk, finally unable to uncross his legs, "What are you looking for?"

Mira pulled out a file, looked at it, and cursing loudly put it back. She swiveled her chair back, only to see two very stunned faces staring back at her. "What? Never hear a girl curse?"

"Not like a pirate, no." George replied, smiling.

Mira grinned, her deep green and grey eyes lighting up, despite the fact that her idea had failed. "What can I say? Always wanted to be a pirate."

"So what were you looking that caused you to curse so beautifully?" Fred smirked, and Mira noticed Fred looked sufficiently more cheerful than before.

"For a possible source I thought I had at the Azkaban gate, but looks like he was fired a few months back."

"Got a Plan B?" Mira tapped her ring-adorned thumb against her temple, an odd habit and thought for a moment before replying, "I've got some people who owe me favors at the Ministry, and I'll ask them for any info."

"How do so many people owe you favors?" George asked in bewilderment, "And adults no matter?"

Mira leaned back in her chair, her butterbeer in one hand, "What can I say? It's good to be a detective..." She took another sip of her drink, not noticing that George was still looking at her intently.

Fred noticed however, and trying to save his brother from possible embarrassment, asked, "What will we do after you ask these people at the Ministry for this favor?"

"Why, check out all the dodgy places of course."

"Of course?" George smirked, realizing that he had been staring at Mira.

"Yea," Mira looked slightly abashed, "what else did you expect?"

George looked at his twin, and Fred noticed he was acting like his normal cool, calm and collected self. George looked back at Mira, "In case you haven't noticed, our hair kind of makes us stand out."

Mira chuckled, "You doubt my skills?"

George raised an eyebrow.

"At sleuthing, Mr. Weasley. Get your mind out of the gutter."

"Gutter?" George asked, confused. "Never mind. Just stop thinking those thoughts," her mouth was stern, although George noticed her lip twitched slightly in an effort not to smile, and her eyes were twinkling.

"You doubt my sleuthing skills?"

"No, no, of course not."

"Yes," Fred replied bluntly and playfully.

Mira opened her mouth in mock-shock, "How can I possibly live with myself knowing the infamous Weasley twins don't trust my skills at being a private eye?" She put a hand to her forehead in a very Gone with the Wind-esque manner.

"Hmmmmm...would we really call ourselves 'infamous'?"

Mira couldn't help but laugh, "Does anyone ever stay mad at you?"

The twins looked at each other and shrugged, "Not really no."

"Well besides Ginny."

"Yea but she'll just hex us and then be fine."

"True...mum though?"

"Not for very long though usually."

"True-"

"Ahem." Mira interjected. "As much as I'd love to listen to you two banter on for hours, I'd like to show you how amazingly awesome my sleuthing skills are."

George and Fred chuckled softly. "Of course, Mira dear," George replied.

Mira rolled her eyes and placed a bottle on her desk before taking another forkful of her pasta.

George peered at the bottle. "And this would be...?"

"Hair dye."

Fred's hands immediately flew to the mop of hair on his head, "But I like it red!", he whined like a child.

"It comes out with the first wash."

"So why are we using Muggle hair dye?"

"Because a paranoid wizard or witch who is hanging out at these dodgy places can't detect it."

"Ahh."

Mira's eyes crinkled in amusement, "Trust my skills now?"

"Well..."

"So we're going to just barge into these 'dodgy places' and start questioning everyone?"

Mira chuckled softly, "No, not exactly."

They waited for her to continue, and when she only continued to eat, George raised an eyebrow, "Please, enlighten us."

Mira grinned as she put down her fork and folded her hands on her desk.

"Well, my apprentices-"

"Apprentci?" George inquired as Fred hit him upside the head.

Mira tried not to laugh, "No, definitely not, George," her green-grey eyes began twinkling again, "anyway, we'll go into a dodgy place once. Not all of us of course at once. Since we're dealing with mostly purebloods or those who pretend to be pureblood, we can use Muggle devices, like bugs."

"Bugs?" Fred asked, slightly bewildered.

"Not insects, these," she produced from a desk drawer small black beige microphones and ear pieces.

"We wear the ear pieces, and can hook some up to my laptop, and plant the microphones at the dodgy places. Then, we can go back to these places a second time a few days later we can start talking to people, say we're passing through."

The twins nodded. "Not bad, detective."

Mira grimaced. "Please, do NOT call me that."

George smiled, loving that this would make her uncomfortable, and yet at the same time he knew she also loved it, "Surely, detective."

Mira couldn't help but bite her lower lip in an attempt not to smile. "Just don't make that a pet name, Mr. Weasley."

George batted his eyelashes as he leaned onto the desk, "Certainty, Detective," he said playfully.

Mira rolled her eyes and took another swig of her butterbeer as Fred tried not to snicker at the obvious chemistry between the two.

"Got any other devices up your sleeve?"

Mira put down her mug in thought. "I've got a Invisibility Cloak."

The Weasley twins' mouths opened so wide that Mira wouldn't have been surprised if she saw their stomachs.

"Wicked!"

"Where did you get your hands on that?"

"Wicked!"

Mira grinned at their obvious jealousy and replied nonchalantly, "My grandfather had two, and when he found out that his son-in-law and granddaughter were in the private investigations business, he passed them on to us."

Fred could barely breathe and George simply said, "Wicked," for the umpteenth time.

"I've also got something that lets me know if I'm in life-threatening danger." Fred and George's mouths closed and looked at her confused.

She moved her shirt collar slightly and produced a thin silver chain with a waning crescent moon and star. "The moon is etched in silver, but the star is made out of star dust and something else. No one's really sure what...been in my family for years. It's supposed to hum softly and vibrate if the danger is close."

George leaned closer to look at it, not entirely aware that he was therefore moving closer to her body. But his oblivious ended abruptly, when he felt her breath on his face, and he realized he'd have to cross his legs again soon. Mira also noticed their close proximity and could not help the heat that rushed to her face causing her to blush slightly.

Once George had finally gotten a good look and leaned back in his chair did Mira compose herself.

"Does it work?" Fred asked, trying to break the slight tension between the two.

"Not sure exactly...although my dad says that my mum gave it to me only a few hours before she was..." Mira looked down at the necklace and took a deep breath, "tortured." She blinked once, refusing to shed any tears on something that she could not change. She tried to smile as she fingered the moon delicately, "I like to think she knew she was in trouble, so she gave me the necklace before hiding me in the closet." Mira didn't look up at the twins, but sat staring at her necklace in silence, on hand grasping on to it, and the other on the desk.

George, concerned for his new friend, gently laid his hand on top of hers and started stroking it lightly with his thumb. Mira's green-grey eyes looked up with such an intensity at George's own hazel-green eyes that it was wonder George hadn't cowered in fear. But he could see the hurt and pain in her eyes and he knew that even if she were to deny it, she wasn't okay.

"Thanks," she whispered, and tucked the necklace back underneath her polo shirt.

"You sure you okay?" George asked, still very concerned.

"Yea, thanks," she said again, and George took his hand away. Fred watched this quiet exchange and knew that something was bound to happen between the two.

Eventually. Or possibly very, very soon.

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A/N: What do you all think? Please review! Next chapter will be up soon hopefully, and I assure you, it contains fluff!


	4. My Friend, Firewhiskey

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. But I did just get a job...albeit a crap one, so I do own some money I guess...but not enough to buy Harry & Co. 

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The twins had left the office, telling Mira they'd meet up the following day (at her office) to practice bugging bars. Thankfully her dad needed help with at least one of the many Muggle cases he was trying to work on simultaneously, so he allowed Mira and her two new friends to work on one. 

Mira Apparated from her office to her flat, and turned on her Muggle radio as she went to the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. She stripped off her robes and clothes and sent them to the washer with her wand so that she was only clad in her bright blue underwear. She put her hair in a ponytail and started to brush her teeth when one of her favorite American dance-songs came on. She started jumping to the beat of Outkast's "Hey Ya", swaying her head side to side and using the toothbrush as a microphone as she belted out the lyrics. She was mid jump when she heard a faint cough, and turning around while still airborne, stumbled and shrieked when she saw who was standing in the bathroom doorway. Mira would have fallen if George hadn't caught her. 

"Didn't mean to startle you...you ok?"

She nodded, her green-grey eyes wide as George helped her stand up again. She pulled away slightly so she could spit into the sink. 

George's hand was still around her waist, liking the way it felt to hold her. He couldn't help but admire her practically naked and tan body. She was gorgeous, and George's wish had come true: he had seen her without her clothes on.

Mira could feel George's green-hazel eyes slowly grazing over her body, and she felt increasingly more self-conscience about her body. But instead of getting angry that a guy was clearly checking her out like a slab of meat at the market, she didn't really mind. She almost _enjoyed_ the attention she was getting from such an attractive guy...

Mira finally gained some composure and trying to ignore the heat that was radiating from George's hands and that reached all over her body, she said in a slightly husky voice, "So was there a reason you managed to Apparate to my flat and scare me half to death, or did you just want to see me naked?"

George's hazel-green eyes twinkled, "Well..."

Mira hit his arm playfully and said, "Accio, shirt," as a large grey t-shirt flew towards her. Pulling it over her body she asked, "So what brings you here? Couldn't get enough of Mira Dean?"

George chuckled as he followed her to the kitchen where she pulled out two bottles of beer. She sat down on the couch and he followed suit. They clinked bottles and with small smiles, each took a sip. 

"Blech," George made a face after swallowing. "I can never get used to this Muggle drink. You don't have any Firewhiskey then?"

Mira smiled. "I do, but can we finish these first?" she took another swallow. "Now, why did you come visit me in my flat?" she paused, "seriously," she added. 

George's face fell when he remembered why he had Apparated to her flat in the middle of the night after he had just seen her. He leaned forward, one leg tucked next to the back of the couch so that he was facing her. He stared at her for a moment; she looked completely innocent the way she was sitting Indian-style, her hair in a loose ponytail that allowed some pesky raven strands to fall in front of her face, her head cocked slightly to the side since she had questioned him, her eyes shifting back and forth from his intense stare. He took a breath and whispered, "Are you okay?"

Mira blinked, unsure of what he meant. She looked back at him, and noticed concern was written all over his face; his deep hazel-green eyes were filled with worry, but she didn't know why. "What do you mean?"

George opened his mouth and shut it, very much like a fish. "Well, I mean, you seemed a little upset during dinner..."

Suddenly it hit Mira, and a wave up sadness and gratefulness washed over her. She smiled smally and bowed her head, "Yea," she whispered.

George, becoming even more worried when she bowed her head slightly, cupped his hand under her chin to lift her head back up, and was thankful when he saw she had not shed any tears.

She smiled at him again and whispered, "Thanks though, for making sure..." George shrugged, his hand still cupping her chin, "no one's ever done that before..." George continued to stare into her eyes, thankful that she was all right, but wanting to kiss her so badly...

But his prayer was answered when she suddenly crashed her lips onto his, her body pressing up against his. His body leaned back in surprise from the sudden addition of weight, but he soon regained his balance and kissed her back, only to have her pull away.

She jumped up, her hand on her temple, "Oh God, I am so stupid..." she turned away from him and walked into the kitchen. "God what was I thinking? I need a drink..." she mumbled to herself and opened a cabinet. George sat on the couch, flabbergasted, and when he noticed Mira taking out a bottle of Firewhiskey, he too rose from the couch. He watched as she unscrewed the large bottle, and without bothering for a shot glass, she took a giant gulp from the bottle, shaking her head when she was done. George walked up behind her and putting his hands on her waist, turned her around so they were facing each other, her body against his tightly. She was still holding the bottle of Firewhiskey, as George, his eyes never leaving hers, took the bottle from her hand and took the same size gulp that Mira had. When he put down the bottle, he quickly and skillfully took her face in his hands and pressed his lips against hers firmly, his tongue licking her luscious lower lip for access, which she willingly granted.

Mira pulled away what seemed like an eternity later, both her and George breathing raggedly. She blindingly reached behind her and grinning, grabbed the bottle of Firewhiskey and took another healthy swig.

George grinned lazily, which made Mira's heart almost melt. "Got a high tolerance do we?"

"Too high." George leaned in again and licked her lips to sweep off the excess alcohol. "Hmmm..." He kissed her again, and picking her up by the waist, gently set her on the countertop. She opened her legs so that his torso fit nicely in between.

Mira moved her hands from George's hair to underneath his shirt where she moved her hands around his nicely-sculpted chest. He moaned into her mouth and breaking lip-contact for a moment, she lifted his shirt over his head.

When she feasted her eyes on his freckled chest, the logical side of her brain suddenly turned back on. Quickly and lightly pushing him away, she jumped off the counter.

"Mira?" George looked confused, "What's wrong?"

Mira turned around and came face to face with George's deep hazel-green eyes that were full of hurt. "We...we...we-" she couldn't finish her thought as George moved his body closer to hers; his warm breath on her face, "...shouldn't?"

"Why?" he whispered, tilting his head slightly to peer into her eyes.

She tried to regain her composure, "Because we'll be working together and it'll be awkward..."

George sighed and ran his hand through his hair, "It doesn't have to be, Mira. It could be normal..."

"How?" she demanded, her voice soft and yet still stern.

He looked at her surprised from her odd tone. "Couldn't we at least try?"

Mira sighed and sat down at her kitchen table. "Hand me the Firewhiskey."

George hesitated, "Haven't you had enough?"

"Am I still thinking logically?" George gave her a look that she could not fully decipher. "Just give it to me, please."

George grabbed the bottle from the counter, but before handing it over, he took another swig. Mira cocked an eyebrow at him. "Couldn't let you have all the fun."

They sat at the table in silence for a few moments when George finally whispered, "Couldn't we at least try? What if it works out?"

"What if it doesn't?"

"Well, we're both professionals, aren't we?" Mira looked hard at him for a moment before nodding. "Then we'll act like professionals and see the mission out."

Mira stared at the bottle for a moment before taking her third swig that night. "We can take it slow, I guess...but do you want a real relationship?"

George's face softened, the corners of his mouth on the verge of curling upwards. "We'll take it slow, and see if a relationship is what's next...agreed?"

Mira smiled as she brought her chair closer to George's and brought her face mere centimeters from his, "Agreed." She gently and tantalizingly slowly brought her lips to his before pulling away to take another swig of Firewhiskey. "But tonight I really feel like getting piss drunk."

George smiled as he took the bottle from her. "Agreed, but Fred will worry."

"So invite him over, we'll have one drunken night before we start our training and before I take my Healing Exams."

George grinned, knowing that he would never take advantage of Mira, and figuring she hadn't planned on sleeping with him tonight anyway. He'd have to live in the present for this "relationship" and not always want to sleep with her. From what he could tell, she was an amazing kisser, and that would keep him preoccupied long enough. "Inviting Fred sounds like a good idea. He could use a night of pure and unadulterated drunkenness." Eyeing the slowly diminishing amount of Firewhiskey in the bottle he added, "I'll have him bring over some more Firewhiskey."

"Beautiful."

George walked over to the fireplace to Floo Fred. Fred's head popped up grinning, "Knew you had a thing for her..."

"Sod off, you big baffoon."

"Ouch."

George laughed, "Mira wants to get piss drunk just once before we start our mission, so we figure you should come over to get piss drunk with us."

Fred eyes his twin suspiciously, "No joke? You don't mind?"

"Course not. We both want you to come. And we snogged, if that's what you're wondering, and we're going to take things slow."

Fred's grin got even bigger, "I knew it! I knew it!" He coughed and cleared his throat after he realized he started to sing "Spice Up You Life". "Everyone knows I can't give up a drunken night with my favorite twin and a new friend..."

George smiled, "I know. Bring our bottle of Firewhiskey and whatever else we have. Mira's got an abnormally high tolerance for a British female."

"Aye, aye, Cap'n."

Fred's head disappeared from the fire and a few seconds later he was flung out from it.

"Top o' the Mornin' to ya!" he greeted his twin, handing him a bottle of Firewhiskey and holding on to his bottle of Grey Goose Vodka.

"Where on Earth did you get that?"

"Snatched it from Bill the other day."

George rolled his eyes and led Fred to the kitchen where Mira was putting food out on the table. She gave Fred a hug and when he eyed the food she replied, "I always get super hungry when pissed."

"Ah, of course," Fred said, placing the vodka on the table. "How much has everyone had so far?"

George held up three fingers and Fred cried out, "I have a lot of catching up to do!" Taking Mira's bottle of Firewhiskey, he produced three shot glasses and poured the Firewhiskey into each glass. He quickly and skillfully downed each glass to the cheers of both George and Mira.

Then Fred poured the remains of the Firewhiskey into the three shot glasses, and after clinking glasses (to the toast of "To becoming pissed out of our minds!"), the three new friends downed the contents in unison.

"Whoa!" Fred yelled after the three each took a shot of the vodka, "This Grey Goose stuff is pretty strong."

Mira shrugged, "Bet you I can mix it with the Firewhiskey."

Fred raised his glass, "Dare you."

Mira poured half a shot glass of Firewhiskey and then finished off the glass with the vodka. She raised her glass, nodded her head to the twins and downed it. The twins clapped as Mira raised her hands as if she was on stage. "Thank you, thank you," she giggled.

"Did Mira just..."

"...giggle?"

She giggled again and nodded her head. "Let's move to the couch, shall we, boys?"

The trio stood up on wobbly feet, and taking the bottles of alcohol they had left (and not bothering with the shot glasses), stumbled into the sitting room. George stumbled onto the couch first, plopping down so that his upper body was sprawled over the arm rest and his one leg was on the couch. Fred landed on the floor with a plop, and putting the bottle of Firewhiskey to his lips, took another giant swig. Mira, bringing up the rear, and carrying bags of chips, tripped over Fred and landed on top of George who "uumphed" with the force of her land.

"Hungry?"

Mira nodded and giggled again, grabbing a hand full of tortilla chips and shoving them into George's mouth who began to sputter. "Whaaaa-wha?"

Mira laughed uncontrollably, and nearly fell off of George and the couch, but leaned back just in time. Fred meanwhile, laying on the floor, tried to take another swig, to end up spilling half of the Firewhiskey that was supposed to have landed in his mouth. His mouth opened and closed lethargically, and he swallowed what he had managed to get into his mouth, and after he wiped his face off with his sleeve and said, "You guys are-are so so so AWESOME, I totallllllllylove you guysso much thanks for having me get pissed with youguys. I hope you guys hook up soon o somethin because that wouldbe totallllly rad or something thing like that I don'tevenknow what I'm saying!" He ended in a high-pitched voice and started laughing, covering his face with a hand. "Ineed more to drink." And leaning his head up a little tried to aim the bottle of Firewhiskey at his face again, and only missing by a centimeter.

Mira meanwhile was still chomping on her chips happily, and trying to understand what Fred was saying, "Fred," she giggled, "please dont spill onmy carpet, pleasssssse. O you can cleanitup later or somethin."

George took another giant swig of the Grey Goose vodka, and wiping his mouth, offered the bottle to Mira who clumsily took it and had another healthy swallow. "Thisis funn!" she said grinning and putting her bag of chips on the floor, repositioned herself against George so that her face was hovering above his, and her chest was laying on his. She grinned again, clearly unaware of the position she was currently in with the man she had made out with not an hour before. "Are you having fun?"

George grinned back and replied rather loudly, "Sooooomuch funnn!"

Mira giggled again, "Why'reyou yelling!"

George snickered like a child, "Sorrrry Mira!"

Fred shouted from his spot on the floor, "Thisis soooooofunn!" He sat up quickly and swaying back and forth looked at the couple on the couch, "Will youguys PLEASSSSSSE just hook up alreadddy? We donn need any secxuall tenshhon orr whaever isss called..." He clunked his head back on the floor and was soon breathing heavily. 

Mira looked at George, and tried to shrug, but failed miserable, "Wanna?"

George grinned, "Course! Your totalllly hootttttttttttt." Mira smiled, and clumsily grabbed his face so that he wouldn't move so she could plunge her lips onto his. 

Neither could even think slightly coherently, so there was no second thought when Mira's shirt had been ripped in half in George's drunken haste to take off all of her clothes. His own shirt wasn't ripped, but took a great deal of effort to get off. They roughly and felt at each other's chest before Mira made for his jeans. She straddled his legs so that she could unbuckle his belt. Her ponytail had long come undone, and her hair was flowing down her neck, and George stared at her, completely mesmerized by her beauty, no matter how drunk he was. Mira's fingers were almost completely numb, so it took her a great deal of time to undo George's buckle. Long enough where the amount of alcohol finally hit George full force and he passed out, even with a gorgeous, drunk-out-of-her-mind witch straddling him.

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A/N: The last bit was kinda unnecessary, but ah well. Not everything in a book/story needs to be necessary does it? And besides, this could lead to some interesting developments later on or even in the next chapter. How was the fluff for everyone? Ok?

Until next time!

-Tate Dean


	5. The Morning After

A/N: Did everyone hate the last chapter? Love it? Is anyone still reading this Godforsaken story? That was the last chapter that I had written out before typing and therefore posting, so depending on how lazy I am, these next chapters may be slow in coming...but it's not like many people are reading this, so in reality who really cares?

Prepare for possible awkwardness between this new "trio"...teehee!

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George's head was spinning. His eyes were still closed, thankfully, he didn't know how well he could handle the light that was sure to be blaring from that damned sun. It was as he was cursing the sun that he finally noticed the weight that was on his chest and legs. Was he under the bed or something? He tried to replay the past night's events, but all that he could recall was inviting Fred over to Mira's so they could all get pissed, and then having a few shots. So what happened in-between having those few shots and waking up under a pretty heavy weight?

He lifted his neck slowly so he could open his eyes better, when he felt hair move. And not his hair...

He let his head fall back down against the back of the couch when he realized it was Mira that was the weight on top of him. Eyes still closed, his hand moved down to his chest where he felt her long hair, and then her shoulder. Her bare shoulder. "Fuck," he tried to mumble, but his throat was too dry and hoarse. Had they done it? On the couch..."No," he thought, noticing his jeans were still on. So they hadn't gotten that far. Good.

"Good?" he thought. Of course he wanted to sleep with Mira; what sane wizard wouldn't? But he wanted to sleep with her when he wasn't piss drunk and incoherent. He wanted to know what was going on at all times, so it _was_ good that they hadn't slept together.

Yet.

He moved his arms so that they were holding Mira's body now. It was comfortable to have her lightweight against him, not matter how uncomfortable that couch was to sleep on. It was nice to have Mira in his arms, even if she was passed out. His head stopped pounding long enough so that he could fall back asleep again.

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Fred moaned when he finally woke up, and turning onto his side, smacked his leg onto something cold and hard. He groaned again. and opened his eyes slowly. Why was he on the floor? And why were his legs underneath the coffee table? Everything came rushing back to him when he sat up: him at home by himself watching the blank television screen when George invited him to get drunk at Mira's. He had willingly obliged, needing to forget (for even only a short time) about Angelina. He remembered taking numerous shots with his twin and their new partner-in-crime-solving and then he remembered laying down on the floor, and assumingly passing out. The floor and the excessive amount of alcohol would explain the pounding that was his head. He turned around to see a sleeping Mira on top of a sleeping George, his arms around her, and her arms splayed on his chest. They were both shirtless, but (fortunately or unfortunately) both still had their pants on. He couldn't help but smile at the sight, and wanting to save the awkward confrontation they would most definitely have, for later when his head wasn't pounding. So he cautiously stood up to go find where Mira kept her Hangover Remedy.

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Mira moaned softly and repositioned her head on...a chest?

She shot up in a flash, pushing down on the chest she had been sleeping on, and when that said chest moved from her force, she noticed that it was George's chest. "Terrific," she mumbled. She stood up and noticing that she wasn't wearing a shirt, her face drained all of color. Had they? No, George's jeans were still on, as were her knickers. Thank, Merlin then. Right?

She turned around and found her shirt on the floor, picking it up and putting it back on she heard a soft thud and an "oh crap". On tiptoes, she slowly walked over to the bathroom, wishing she had her wand with her. The door was slightly ajar, so she pushed it open a little more only to see Fred on the floor holding his foot.

"Fred? What on Earth are you doing?" she asked softly as she shielded her eyes from the sunlight that was coming through the window.

"Looking for a Hangover Potion."

"In your foot?"

"No, in the medicine cabinet, but then something fell and landed on my toes."

"Come on, the potion's in the kitchen." She grabbed Fred's hand and pulled him up. They walked quietly to the kicthen so as not to wake George.

Mira walked to the cabinet and pulled out a green bottle and two glasses. Pouring two tablespoons into each glass, she looked over at the table and saw one of the empty bottles of firewhiskey. "Oh, Merlin," she gulped down the potion quickly before she puked from the sight of more alcohol. Fred did the same. She then poured two new glasses of water and got two cups of steaming coffee for the two of them.

She the set the cups down and chucked the firewhiskey bottle into the garbage. "Thanks," Fred said and took a much needed sip of water. "So..." Fred looked up at the girl in front of him, "want to talk about it?"

"About what?"

Fred rolled his eyes, "Please. The sexual tension between you two was obvious at the Order meeting. Don't play innocent with me. What exactly is going on with you two?"

Mira tried not to smile, so instead took a sip of coffee. "We eventually decided to take things slow. We don't want to mess up this mission by making it awkward if we decide that this doesn't' work out."

Fred nodded, "George is very professional."

Mira nodded. They sat in silence for a few moments when Fred asked again, "What do you mean eventually decided?"

Mira was quiet for a second, "I was skeptical at first. I mean, I'm not very good with long-term relationships, and I don't want anything to get in the way of the mission...but George convinced me. Although," she paused and Fred leaned in closer, afraid of what she might say, "I think by that time the alcohol was already starting to kick in, so I think it was my hormones making the decisions and not my brain."

Fred grinned, but it soon faltered, "You're not gonna change your mind, are ya?"

Mira bit her lip, "No, guess not. I kinda like George."

"Good, I kinda like him too."

Mira laughed softly and took another sip of coffee. "So."

"So."

"How long has it been?"

Fred understood what she was asking immediately. "A few weeks."

"Love her that much?"

Fred thought for a moment, "I was thinking about that last night actually, before getting pissed with you two crazy kids, and I discovered that maybe I didn't as much as I thought I did."

"How so?"

"Well, I think I was more in love with the idea of," Fred let out a soft whistle, "this sounds so cliché and sappy, but love I guess; a relationship. I wanted a real relationship so badly that I just hung on to Angelina, even though we didn't really get along and weren't even really going out."

Mira nodded, "Understandable."

"Yea? I thought maybe I was turning into a full-fledged loon."

"No, I think it makes perfect sense."

Fred nodded and stared into his cup. "I think last night helped though."

"Yea?"

"Yea, got my mind off her, and I think I'm getting better actually. I think I'll be completely better in a week or two maybe."

Mira nodded and smiled, glad that her new friend was going to be okay. She stared over his shoulder for a moment, thinking. "Fred Weasley, Fred Weasley..."

"Why are you whispering my name? Shouldn't you be screaming George's?"

Mira shook her head and rolled her eyes, "No, I'm just remembering...I was in the library a lot, so I would often talk to the regulars there."

"I'm so very happy for you Mira, but what does that have to do with you whispering my name over and over?"

"_Because_, Merlin, if you let me finish..." she rolled her eyes again playfully, "I remember someone mentioning having a slight crush on you, even if it was futile, embarrassing and irrational."

"Yea? A younger student?"

Mira nodded, enjoying the suspense.

"I'm not surprised, who wouldn't have a crush on a guy like me?"

Mira couldn't help but laugh, "Oh, please."

"Come now, Mira darling. You didn't _once_ have a crush on George or I?"

Mira put a finger to her cheek and looked off into the distance, pretending to think extremely hard. Fred swat at her arm and she laughed. "Alright, maybe once when I was young and foolish."

Fred grinned and chuckled, "I knew it. I AM a genius...I keep telling Mum..."

"Hermione Granger."

Fred, who had continued to babble on, paused, "Sorry, come again?"

"Hermione Granger."

"What about her?"

"She was the one who had a crush on you last year and possibly years before and maybe still now."

Fred's mouth opened and closed, "You sure it's the same Hermione Granger?"

"Yes."

"Bushy brown hair, brown eyes, Head Girl, smartest witch in her class, _best friends with my brother and Harry Potter_?"

Mira nodded, a smile growing on her lips at Fred's shocked expression. "Except her hair is not so bushy anymore, and she's definitely not a little girl anymore..."

Fred shook his head trying to clear it, "What?"

"Hermione has grown up."

"Well, I mean I saw her maybe a little less than a year ago..."

Mira's smiled continued to grow. "She's quite the attractive witch."

"But-but wouldn't have Ginny told me if her best friend had a crush on me?"

"Not if Hermione swore her to secrecy and you were still dating Angelina."

Fred's mind was reeling, but he thankfully didn't have to continue this mind-boggling conversation because it was at that moment George walked into the kitchen holding his head and groaning.

"Hangover?" he mumbled, rubbing his temples, his eyes still half-closed.

Mira poured another cup of the remedy as well as a cup of water and coffee, setting them in front of George who gingerly took the first cup and quickly swallowed it. He immediately switched cups and downed the water in a second. "Thanks," he mumbled again.

Fred couldn't help but anxiously await the confrontation between the two, and had no intention of leaving what promised to be an entertaining conversation.

Mira knew that Fred would not leave.

And as soon as George could sort his muddled thoughts, so would he.

It would the Mira-George conversation about "Us", with Fred as a not-so-innocent bystander.

As Fred sat tapped his mug of coffee waiting for the inevitable conversation, he couldn't help but think about what Mira had said about Hermione. 'Out of all people...' he thought. He had never really had an actual crush on Hermione, but he always thought she had the potential to be extremely attractive, and according to Mira, perhaps she had become the beauty that he had somehow always knew she could be. He had always admired her intelligence, fully believing that once You-Know-Who was defeated, she would one day become the Minister (Ministress?) of Magic.

But did he believe that she had actually had a crush on him? Not really. If it was older Weasley men that she was attracted to, why not Charlie or Bill who were never getting into trouble for pulling pranks (well, at least she didn't know that they had in their younger, more foolish years)? He somehow thought it was all some ploy by Mira (and perhaps George?) to get him to get over Angelina? Surely that had to be it. Why would Hermione Jane Granger, Know-It-All-Extraordinare ever have a crush on him? It was inconceivable!

He was driven out of his thoughts when he heard George finally set his cup down on the table. He rubbed his hands together underneath the table; this was going to be good.

Mira opened her mouth and said, "We were drunk, and it's not really that big a deal anyway. No need to make it drawn-out and awkward."

"Agreed," George nodded, letting out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding, "everyone does things like that when they're drunk."

"So, we're good?"

George smiled, "Why? What happened last night?"

Mira's face relaxed and she burst into a huge smile, "I don't know, what?" and she leaned in for a quick kiss with her? What could she call him?

She decided he didn't a title just yet when Fred let out a groan. "I've been waiting alll morning for an awkward confrontation, and all I get was, 'Let's forget it ever happened?'"

George nodded, "Seems so."

"People! Come on! I expected to see some good drama here! I paid good money for this!"

Mira's mind raced, but her face decieved her when it contorted into an evil grin. "Hey, George."

"Yea?" He asked hesitantly, slightly afraid of both Mira's evil grin and the evil glint in her eye.

"Did you know that Hermione used to have a crush on our dear Fred here?"

George's face broke into an amused smile, knowing where Mira was going with this scheme, "Really? Ya don't say?" He was slightly shocked, not knowing if Mira was telling the truth or not, but he decided to play along, true or not.

"Yea, she told me about it one day last year when we were both studying in the library."

"Hermione, hm? I always remember Fred looking at her kinda funny back in our Hogwarts days..."

"Really now?" Mira cocked an eyebrow, highly amused. "Well, then I guess Fred wouldn't mind if I sent a letter to Hermione to inform her that Fred reciprocates her old feelings?"

"I'm sure he wouldn't."

Now Fred was scared. Both Mira and George had "Evil" written all over their faces, figuratively of course. They wouldn't really send Hermione such rubbish, would they? But he watched in horror as Mira summoned both a quill and parchment.

"Okay, okay! I'll never say anything so selfish and arrogant and mean ever again, I promise! But why would you bring a poor innocent girl into this?"

Mira shrugged. "I shouldn't feel guilty if you two actually got together, should I?"

Fred's mouth opened and closed a few times before he could compose himself enough to retort back, "Why would we ever get together? We're too different. And anyway, she's clearly in love with Ron."

George shook his head. "No, remember? Ginny sent an owl saying that they had both decided it was too weird."

Fred was unable to speak again.

"Don't worry, brother. Mira and I won't interfere. We'll let nature run it's course." And before Fred could respond, George took Mira's hand and led her back to the living room so that they could clean up the mess that had been left the night before.

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A/N: I know, I know, this totallllly sucks. I'm soo sorry! But please review anyway. I promise I'll have another chapter up...eventually.


	6. Practice Run

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, everyone! They made me soo happy! So here ya go, another chapter for all you wonderful reviewers out there! And it's a long chapter, but it was a long time coming, sorry for such a looong delay!

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Fred and George left Mira's flat around noon promising to meet up with her in a few hours so that they could have an early dinner before visiting a few regular bars before going to some dodgy places.

"Should I be scared?" Fred asked his brother as they both landed in their own flat.

"Of what?"

"Well, the fact that Mira is convinced that Hermione was and maybe still is madly in love with me...AND the fact that we're going to extremely dodgy places tonight and could possibly be killed?"

George smiled, knowing that his brother wasn't _actually _scared of either. "I think you should be more afraid that now Mira may want to set you up with Hermione."

Fred groaned as he sat down at the kitchen table. "I knew it!"

George chuckled as he brought parchment and a quill over to the kitchen table.

"What are you doing?"

"Composing a sonnet for Mira, if you please."

Fred's eyes got so huge they looked as though they were about to burst. "Pardon?"

George rolled his eyes, "Writing Ginny a letter."

Fred stopped hyperventilating and let out a low whistle. "'Bout what?"

"What's been going on...in code o'course."

"How are you going to say, 'A new girl named Mira Dean, a brilliant Ravenclaw alum has joined the Order and I think I'm in love with her'?"

"Nice try throwing in that 'love' thing. Too bad I'm not in love with Mira. And I can say anything in code and Ginny will understand."

"Eh?"

"Dear Ginny, Hello, tis your favorite brother Georgie, with an updated report. Fred and I are bored out of our minds, doing nothing but running the shop and what not. We are still girl less, although Fred may have found a potential someone. I'm still looking. The store is fine, we've had no interesting customers, and Fred and I haven't been to any bars or parties or anything in a long, long time. We wish we could get out more and meet new people, but there seems to never be enough time! Tell Hermione and the boys we say hello. When we're looking for property in Hogsmeade, we'll let you know so we can allllllll get together. Write back soon, Love, Georgie."

Fred stared at his twin, "And that's code..._how_?"

"Are you that daft?"

"Apparently."

"It's all opposite. Would Ginny _ever_ believe that we haven't been to a bar in a while or that you're _already _back on the dating scene? Don't think so."

"Ohhh, I get it. But I still think it's extremely stupid."

"Well, Fred dearest, I don't think I asked for your opinion."

"Oh, ouch."

"But that last bit wasn't the opposite, about looking for more property."

"Yea, but she already knew we were gonna do that."

"Oh...?"

"So it doesn't need to be in code."

"Oooook."

George shook his head, "We need to shower before going back to Mira's flat, so I'm going to shower as soon as that damn owl gets here." George whistled softly, "Ferguson!"

The store's owl cam hooting up to the window George was holding open and hooted softly as George tied the letter around his leg.

"Shower away, dear brother."

--------

Mira stepped into her shower, letting the warm stream first caress her scalp, shoulders, and then the rest of her body. She took her time lathering up the different soaps and shampoos and rinsing them out; she loved to take long showers, and she knew she needed a nice warm shower now more than ever.

She couldn't help but constantly think of George. She knew she shouldn't since she had only just met him, and was bound to tire of him soon, just like all the other men she had ever been interested in. But somehow she knew this may not be the case.

How could anyone ever tire of the Weasley twins? They were almost a myth amongst the younger wizardry generation. And now Mira Dean was friends with them. Dating one. _Dating a Weasley twin._ What would her mother have said?

Mira couldn't help but laugh softly, smiling in the shower, feeling slightly stupid to be talking to herself in her head. What would her mother have said? She had no idea; she had barely known the woman before she was murdered. She only really knew her mother through stories other adults told her or things her father said. And if her Dad knew any of the stories of the Weasley twins? He'd probably be prouder than if she became a member of the Order of Merlin.

She stepped out of the shower 20 minutes later, and wrapped a giant fluffy towel around her body and her hair, 'The Muggle Way', she thought. That was what her roommates at Hogwarts had called it. She was the only one who had been raised by only Muggles. All the other girls had at least one magical parent. But that was in the past; Hogwarts and her not very friendly roommates were behind her. She had to focus on the task ahead, her task for the day. Teach Fred and George to be master detectives like herself. And she had a feeling it'd be a very simple task.

-------

She met up with Fred and George again at her office, but not before she got a chance to talk with her dad.

"I'm going to take that Miller case you didn't want."

Her balding father looked up from his lap top, his eyebrow furrowed, "Oh?"

"Going to teach my new apprentices how to be detectives?"

"Oh, those boys from the meeting?"

"Yea, that okay?"

Her dad thought for a moment, his own brown eyes boring into her grey ones. "Fine, but be careful."

"Am I ever not?"

Her dad put a finger to his jaw and looked up as if this kind of thinking was painful. "Oh, don't answer that, you ol' fool."

"Hey!" Thomas called out at his daughter's retreating back. "I'm not old!"

"But you admit you're a fool!" She called over her shoulder, just as the twins walked in.

"Oi! Mira! Can I meet your new friends?"

Fred and George walked up to Thomas' door, hands outstretched before Mira could even get in a "Hello". "Fred Weasley, this is my twin, George."

"Hello, boys, name's Thomas Dean. You're going to learn how to be a detective from my daughter, I see."

"Yessir."

"Well then," he leaned in slightly and whispered, "make sure she doesn't get into any kind of trouble then, eh? Sometimes, she gets a little too involved."

Both Weasleys got a mischievous glint in their eyes that was not overlooked by Mr. Dean. "Certainly, sir. Certainly."

Thomas smiled and waved goodbye as Mira ushered the two boys into her office, sticking her tongue out at her dad. He sat back in his chair chuckling as he watched Mira shut her door. She was a handful, but he loved her for it.

"Your dad seems nice."

Mira smirked, "Well, I'm glad you lot like him. Now, shall we get down to business?"

"Mira! Can I at _least_ leave so you and George can have some privacy! You sick, sick person."

Mira shook her head, trying to hide her smile as George swatted the back of his brother's head. "Twat."

"What business did you mean, Mira?"

"Food!" Mira looked flabbergasted at having to be asked what she wanted. "What else?"

Fred plopped some shepard's pie onto the desk, "Is that the only thing this woman thinks of?"

"Apparently, dear brother. Apparently."

Mira began to devour her food, daintily of course, so as not to frighten the twins. They, however, were more reserved than their companion, taking breaks to discuss certain things, such as what color they wanted their hair.

"Blonde."

"No, brother, I think you'd look much better grey."

"Jet black."

"Oh, I think you'd look dashing with black hair!"

"Ladies, ladies, please! We will dye your hair in a moment, one of you black, one of you dirty blonde, but please, finish your meals so we can get started."

"Yes, mother," Fred replied.

"Ew..." George grimaced and stuck his tongue out before taking another bite.

"What is it George?" Mira asked, slightly exasperated that she couldn't continue to eat in peace.

"I just got a horrid mental image of you as my mother, especially after those things I did to you last night..." He raised a single brow in her direction.

She shook her head and when he went back to his meal, threw a pen at him.

"Ow!"

"Fred, would you slap him please?"

"Why, of course, milady."

"Ow!"

"That should teach him."

George rubbed the back of his head and made a face, "Yes, yes, lesson learned!" He took the last bite of his meal and sighed dramatically, "Can we get a move on our assignment now, Master Dean?"

She cocked an eyebrow, "So I've gone from Detective to Master Dean, hm?" She didn't wait for some witty, sarcastic response, so instead slammed two bottles on to the desk. "Now, who wants to have black hair, and who wants to have dirty blonde?"

"Black!"

"Blonde!"

"Follow, me, then ladies," and she lead them to her office's bathroom.

"Mira, really, you can have us one at a time..."

"Fred, put your head in the sink, now."

"Is this your idea of kinky?"

"Fred!" She grabbed a tuft of his hair and shoved his head into the sink, gently of course. She turned on the faucet and proceeded to get Fred's hair wet before squirting the dye in it. When she was finished, she told Fred to move and had George do the same thing. Then she pulled Fred back into the sink to rinse out the dye and did a drying charm on it before doing the same to George. All without her saying a word.

Fred and George were complaining of course, but she chose to ignore them.

"Why, Fred me boy, you look fantastic!"

"And so do you, Georgie!"

Mira cleared her throat, "Do either of you have Muggle clothes we could summon?"

They looked baffled, "We're wearing some."

"Yes, yes, but like oxfords?"

"Oxcords?"

"Button-down shirts?"

"Buttons!"

Mira rolled her eyes. "Nevermind." She waved her wand and soon one oxford shirt, and one polo appeared. The oxford light blue, "For the twin with lighter hair, I'm afraid Fred." And the polo was green, "For our raven-haired beaute, hm Mira?"

Mira nodded. She then tapped her wand to the top of her head, and the twins watched in wonder as auburn streaks ran down her otherwise completely raven hair. "There, now we're ready to go to this Muggle bar."

"And then to the dodgy ones?"

Mira cocked an eyebrow and started to walk out her office door, grabbing her hooded zip-up and bag, "If you pass with Muggles, sure."

"Mira!" Fred called, as the twins walked out after her, "Where are we going?"

She turned around grinning. "My car of course!"

"A real Muggle car!"

"No, actually, a Giant car."

"Such a thing exists?"

Mira laughed. She couldn't help it. Sometimes they're complete ignorance towards Muggle life was too much. "Perhaps," she opened the driver's door to her navy BMW, "but I wouldn't know."

The twins whistled in amazement when they saw her car. "How _did_ you afford this?"

"Gift from one of my clients."

"Mira, darling, we do not need to hear about these clients that you perform for, you could have lied."

"Ya know," she put a finger to her lips, as if thinking, and George groaned softly, unbeknownst to either of his companions, "I could just complete this mission by myself and not teach you two to be stealthy private eyes like myself."

"Fine, fine, I apologize."

"Thank you, Frederick."

Fred shuddered at the use of his full name, but didn't say another word. He wanted nothing more at this moment to be a stealthy detective. Mira ushered the two men into her car, George in the front and Fred hopping over the front seat to get to the back. Once everyone was situated, Mira started the car and pulled away with screeching tires.

"You call this stealth?"

"Quiet, you. I've got into character."

"And which character is that?" George asked, his voice lower than usual, and leaning over the shifts so she could almost feel the breath on her cheek.

"Bad ass." And without looking towards George, quickly shifted and turned the compact car into a dark alleyway.

The twins were thoroughly impressed with Mira's driving abilities, and did not realized she was talking until she practically started screaming.

"AH! WHAT?"

Mira shook her head, "Take these," she opened her palm to George where there were two bugs, one black and one beige, while she kept her eyes on the alleyway, "and when no one's looking at you, or when you're taking a drink, put it somewhere hidden but near people so we can hear what's going on."

"Like where?"

"Underneath the bar, underneath a stool, something."

"Easy enough."

She ignored this comment and kept talking, "The bugs are connected to my laptop, so at the designated time-"

"-which is-"

"-we will all reconvene here so we can listen to what's going on. We're trying to hear this man's voice," she turned on the radio and a man's voice came on for a few seconds, saying something that neither George nor Fred could catch, "because he's-"

"-what did he-"

"-the one involved in this case, and we're trying to figure out if he cheated on his wife or laundered any money. His wife suspects him of both. Now, I'll answer all your questions, students."

Fred raised his hand and started waving frantically, complete with annoying "ooohs" and "pick me!"s.

"Yes, Fred."

"When's the designated time, what else did you do besides wire a bar, and why a bar that he may not even pass through?"

Mira smiled, "Well, I prefer bugging bars because that way we may have evidence for a future case or something, and it's more fun to listen to. Also, we can see if for whatever reason, any witches or wizards pass through this bar. And it's good practice for the dodgy magical bars later. And I followed him around last week to see if he went to any hotels or woman's homes, and I took some pictures."

"Mira! How indecent!"

"Only of him entering and exiting the motel of course, the blinds were drawn."

George started laughing as Mira finally pulled into a spot outside a small pub with a neon sign that read, "Sal's". Before Mira stepped out of the car, she said, "10 pm is the reconvening time. Order a drink or two, but do not get trashed or even slightly tipsy. And whatever you do, don't put the bugs in the peanut bowls. Many a rookie detective have been caught that way." The twins nodded; they were both kind of nervous that somehow they might mess something up, and perhaps cost Mira her case, but what they didn't realize was that Mira practically had the Miller case locked up. As the twins got out of the car, she muttered a quick spell and her outfit changed to a short black pleated skirt, black tie-up calf-length boots, and a white, barely buttoned long-sleeved polo, and muttering another spell, her make-up became very smoky and dramatic.

She got out of the car, and locked it, taking in only a small purse that fit her keys, phone, shrunken wand, and money, both muggle and not. George, who was about to enter the bar right behind Fred, turned around when he heard the car lock, and nearly fell over when he laid his eyes on Mira. He regained his breath and slowly took her in. She locked her seemingly steely-grey eyes with his hazel ones. Before she could say a word about why she was dressed like this, George had took two long steps towards, took hold of her face, and captured her lips fiercely with his own. She snaked her hands through his new-black hair and moaned softly into his mouth, her chest up against his own. He moved one hand down to her arse before she pulled away, smiling lazily, her eyes half-open. "Hm...that was nice."

"Mhm."

"Meet me in the bathroom after you plant that bug?"

"Mhm."

"I'm gonna have to flirt with the bartender."

George's eyes flew open and he took his head from next to her own, his hazel eyes searching her own frantically. "What? Why?"

"To possibly get some info. I'm not sure yet. A good detective has to improvise."

George gave up when he saw that she wasn't lying. "K. Meet me in the bathroom though. That is one _highly_ attractive outfit on you..."

Mira couldn't help but smile seductively. "I know," she whispered in his ear before brushing past him and walking in to the bar, a slight sway in her hips.

George groaned, "That woman may be the end of me."

Mira entered the loud pub, and seeing an empty stool, plopped down, banged a hand against the counter and said rather loudly, "Bartender!"

Fred, who was sitting a few stools down, was reluctantly chatting with some drunken old man, but had managed to slip a bug underneath the countertop, right where it meant the leg. He glanced over the other customers' heads to Mira, and made a slight nod to her that no one would notice, but she did.

'Fred passed. Super stealth,' she said to herself when finally the Bartender slid down in front of her.

"And what do ya want this ev'nin, miss." He winked at her as he leaned on his arms.

"Hullo, Joe."

"Mira, how's your father?"

"Fine, fine. Hasn't been around here lately?"

"Nah. And I've missed ya, where have ya been the last week?"

"Busy. You know that."

"So, work tonight, or recreational?"

Mira laughed softly, "Both, I suppose. See that blonde guy over there and the one down the other side with the black hair?" She didn't move her head, but Joe, on a slight delay so as not to raise suspicions, looked in both directions.

"Yeah?"

"I've taken them under my wing."

"Oh, I see, first lesson in bugs?"

Mira smiled and batted her eyes dramatically, "What_ever_ do you mean, Joe?"

Joe rolled his eyes and laughed, placing a glass mug full of beer in front of her. "Thanks, Joe." He turned to go help another customer when she reached out and grabbed his hand, "Hey, Miller been around lately?"

"Nah, he'll come round 11 s'ppose, like normal."

"Right. And hey, keep an eye on my boys, hm?" Joe winked as he walked away to help someone else.

Mira drank half her beer before looking over to George, and without even nodding or winking, got up to go to the bathroom. George, knowing she wanted him to follow, waited a minute before making his way to the restrooms.

He opened the door slowly, and entered the dimly lit, dirty washroom. He waited a moment right inside the door so his eyes could adjust to the poor lighting when he heard a seductive voice, "Ah, Mr. Weasley, I see you've come to join me." And before he could even utter his witty remark, a pair of hands snaked around from his back and roamed over his chest, and he felt moist lips kissing the back of his collarbone up his neck.

He couldn't help grinning, and when those lips hit a pulse point and lightly sucked, he couldn't help but groan softly. Grabbing the hands, he turned around and in a deep voice said, "No way do you get to have all the fun..." and cupped her chin in one hand and captured Mira's lips with his own.

She smiled against his lips, and when the kiss became more passionate, she was pinned against the wall. Her hands continued to roam over his chest. But before she could even react, George had taken her hands and pinned them together about her head. "Evil..." she whispered, her eyes boring into his. He smiled lazily back, "Don't you know it..." He took one hand and took her right breast with it as her breath hitched at the touch. He took her lips with his own again, massaging her breast with his free hand.

He had just moved his hand to the left breast when the bathroom door knob turned slowly. They both looked at each other, eyes wide, not wanting to blow their cover. Mira took control and pushed George into one of the grimy stalls, she rushing in after him and locking the door just as a woman entered the bathroom. Mira stood on the toliet seat, her hands on George's shoulders for support.

"Do they ever clean these bathrooms?" George whispered into her ear. She suppressed her giggles by kissing him softly again.

"Shh...we can't be caught."

"But they'll just think we're two lovebirds making out in the bathroom stall, they won't know who we are..."

Mira couldn't help but smile at George's almost begging for another snog. "Welll-" but she didn't get to finish because George was kissing her again, his one hand on her stomach, which was almost in his face because she was taller than him while on the toilet. After a few minutes, Mira's neck ached from leaning down so far, and George's from leaning up. They broke apart, breathing raggedly when they heard the bathroom door close again.

"We should go back out and get Fred. We can probably leave soon."

"Right, 'course." George ran a hand through his hair, and looking up at Mira, saw that her hair was all askew. He took his hands, and helping her down from the seat, began smoothing down her hair. She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Snogging hair."

"Oh!" she laughed and fussed with her hair for a minute before saying, "I'll go back out now, you can come out in a few minutes."

He nodded as he watched her leave, she turned around when she had opened the bathroom door, one eyebrow raised in a seductive stare, her hips swaying suggestively in such a short skirt. George groaned again, and eyeing his pants, walked to the sink to splash cold water on his face. "Thanks, Mira," he muttered.

Mira sat back down at her stool and took a handful of peanuts to eat as she nodded to Joe. "Nothing?"

"Nothing," he said, "not here yet."

Mira nodded. "Well, thanks."

George was just wiping his face off with a towel when a woman walked into the bathroom, and seeing George stopped abruptly. "Um, this is the ladies' room, right?"

George stiffened, and turning to face the woman, knew he'd have to pretend to be drunk, "Oooooh nooo! Is it? Ha ha ha. Silllly lil me! I thought it was the lil boysie's room! Ha ha! Sooorrrrrrry!" And without another glance, he stumbled out of the bathroom, and noisily out of the bar.

Mira and Joe noticed, and Joe said, "Did he even have that much to drink?"

Mira smiled, "Nah, he's pretending. Must have been a woman in the loo."

Joe raised an eyebrow at Mira who was searching for Fred over the head's of the other customers. Mira turned back to look at Joe, "Yes, fine, we were snogging. What do you want?"

Joe laughed heartily, "Nothin' o'course, Mira. Have a goodnight, eh? Come visit again soon, without yer boyfriend?"

Mira rolled her eyes, and waved good bye, walking out of the bar, and poking Fred very subtly on the back. He noticed, and a few seconds later, walked out of the bar to Mira's car.

Fred opened the door, and motioned for George to get out so he could hop in the back. "Everyone successful?" Mira asked when the twins were situated.

"Aye, Captain!" Fred saluted her.

Mira rolled her eyes and drove the car around a corner from the bar to a dark alley so they could listen to the bugs through Mira's "compudor".

"Computer."

"Right, compudore."

"Com-pu-ter."

"That's what he's saying, Mira! Compudora!"

"Yes, fine. Fine. Now just keep quiet and listen, all right?"

The trio listened for a few minutes without so much as a mention of Mr. Miller. Mira closed the laptop and sighing said, "I'll give this to my dad later so he can keep listening to see if he can discover anything."

She pulled out of the alley onto the busy streets of London.

George looked at her anxiously, "Can we go to the dodgy places now?"

Mira couldn't help but smile when she looked in her rearview mirror and saw the same excited look on Fred's face. "Surely."

She continued to drive in London.

"Well?"

"Calm down!" She laughed, "We're driving to my flat to drop off my car, summon your robes, and then separately apparate to this dodgy bar."

"What's the bar called?"

"Unforgivable."

Fred and George shared a look as Mira revved her sports car into a small space on a one-way side street. "Come along, we're here." The three piled out of the car and followed Mira through the front door of the building and up a few flights of stairs.

They entered the familiar flat, after, of course, Mira undid all the Muggle and Magical locks. ("Paranoid much?" Fred had whispered, but George elbowed him in the stomach to be quiet.) She set her keys and bag down. And went into the laundry room where she brought back three haggard looking robes. She handed Fred a dark brown robe that had a few snags in it. "Smells a bit..."

Mira nodded. "Makes it a bit more convincing is all." Fred pinched his nose closed with two fingers, looking disdainfully at the robe.

"Can't I charm it so I can't smell this horrid stench?"

Mira smiled, "Course." She handed George a dark forest green one and gave him a wink as she did. He couldn't help but grin as he donned the robe, keeping his eyes on Mira. She put on her own dark grey robe that had it's own hood. She put the hood over her head; it nearly covered her eyes, but if she bent down, her entire face would be shadowed.

"Oh, very stealth, Mira."

Mira lifted her head and grinned like a 5-year-old. "Now! Let's run down the plan."

"Let's!"

"Ok," she raised a finger, "don't talk to anyone if you can help it. Don't drink too much alcohol - order some but pour some of this in it," she handed each twin a very small vile.

"What is it?" Fred asked, peering into the foggy glass vile.

"Incredibly difficult potion to make, found it in one of the books in the restricted section of Hogwarts. Counterbalances the alcohol in the drink."

Fred and George each cocked an eyebrow at Mira, "Impressive, Detective."

Rolling her eyes she continued, "Moving on...if anyone asks, it's a special moonshine your uncle makes himself from Tibet. No one in these bars should know someone from Tibet. But don't allow them to try it. Say you have limited supply. Plant a bug, but make sure it's away from any of the bugs. Keep your eyes and ears peeled, listen to any conversation that you can. Make sure we all keep our distance - we can't all leave at the same time or go in at the same time. Don't stay for too long. Have a drink or two and then leave." She looked at each twin in turn, "Any questions?" When neither said a word but just shook their heads she announced, "All right, class dismissed. I'll apparate first, then a few minutes later one of you come, then a few minutes later the last."

"What about our bugs?"

"Oh! Here!" She handed them a bug each and with a small smile said, "Good luck!" before a loud crack was heard and she had disappeared.

"Now we wait."

Fred nodded his head and sat on Mira's couch, "Now we wait."

A/N: WELL? Sorry this took forever...hope you like it and I hope it's not terrible...sorry it's so long too! Please please please please review!


	7. Phase One: Complete

A/N: Thanks for the few reviews I got...I know that last chapter was a long time in coming, so I'm not suprised that some people have seemed to give up on it. Let's just see how the rest of this goes, shall we?

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Mira would never admit it, but she was horribly nervous about this official Order mission. Going into a bar that was sure to have plenty of Muggle-hating wizards and witches? Sure suicide. But she had to be strong.

So when she landed on the ground outside Unforgiveable, she took a deep breath, pulled her hood lower over her face and gathering up all the courage she could muster, opened the warped wooden door of the bar.

The bar itself was dim and dank. Reeked of mildew and beer, a rather unpleasant combination. But regardless of the stench, without skipping a beat, Mira found an open barstool and sat at it quickly and (thankfully) unnoticeably. The less anyone noticed her, the better.

She only hoped the twins were as quiet and unnoticeable as she was.

And they must have been, since she didn't notice when they entered nor exited.

Mira made sure her voice was lower and scratchier when the bartender nodded at her. "Firewhiskey," she expertly croaked out, and quietly took the flask and bug out of her pocket. She slipped the bug in her other hand and on to the bottom of the bar while the other hand held the flask over her shotglass. The man next to her looked over out of the corner of his eye as she poured a drop into her glass. She ignored him until she had downed the contents and he turned to face her.

"Don't trust the alcohol?"

Mira peered expertly from underneath her hood so the man could barely see her green-grey eyes, but so that she could see him clearly. "Not completely," she whispered to the man before turning to face front again. He was an old man, maybe around 60, unless of course he hadn't aged well. His hair was in knots and curls all over the place, but short. He had a large scar across his left cheek that looked fresh. Mira didn't get to examine him much, but she saw a top of what she could only assume was the Dark Mark on his forearm.

"Neither do I," the old man sputtered out as he clumsily took out his own flask from his pocket and took a rather large swig.

Mira faced front again and out of the corner of her hidden eyes looked up and down the counter. There were others dressed like her, covered from head to toe in what looked like burlap sacks. She tried not to smile when she thought of some American Muggle cartoon she had seen on late-night television a few nights back..."Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" "I think so, Brain, but burlap chafes me so." She couldn't help but smile smally at the thought of how George and Fred when laugh if they had watched that show. She shook her head slightly underneath her hood and got back to checking out those in the bar.

After only seeing men and women in burlap sacks, or horrid velvet dress robes with snags, and tangled mats of hair, she stopped peering from underneath her hood and listened intently for any conversations she could hear. She knew from previous investigations that when you stop using one sense, all your others become that much more keen. So Mira closed her eyes beneath her hood and used all her energy to focus on her hearing.

But the only conversations she really heard were about what "Blood Traitor" had been caught and tortured this week, and "Did you hear?"s about who was caught by the Ministry and put into Azkaban. But not one mentioned the Malfoys, Snape or Dumbledore. Seeing as though her mission was complete, and the rest was a lost cause, Mira put down her two knuts for her drink and quietly and discreetly, got up to leave, the man next to her, nodded as she left.

_Have I just made an aquitance with a Death Eater?_ Mira shook her and decided not to think about it. She walked out of the bar and a few feet away before Appartaing with a loud _CRACK!_ and arrived back at her flat. She stripped off her disgusting cloak and seeing as she might have to wait a while for the twins, decided to shower. She raced into the shower stall and took the shortest shower of her entire life before Summoning knickers, a large t-shirt and a pair of boxers. Brushing her hair into a low ponytail, she walked out of the bathroom to be greeted by two grinning, red-haired twins.

"Mission accomplished?"

"Aye, captain!" Fred saluted her and stood at attention as George gave her a huge hug.

"Thanks for teaching us! We had a grand time being stealth!"

Mira couldn't help but smile as she embraced George, completely happy that she was in his arms and that none of them had been killed by fans of the Dark Lord.

"Perhaps a celebratory drink then, lads?" She asked when she and George finally ceased their hug-fest.

"Yes! But only one drink. We don't want a repeat of the other night."

One drink became two.

But it ended with two shots.

The trio sat on Mira's couch and turned on the tele. "Muggle entertainment!"

Mira couldn't help but laugh at the twin's excitement, and surfing for a few minutes, she finally found a station that was playing one of her favorite shows, "Coupling". They started to watch it, the two Weasley's thoroughly engrossed when Mira got up, "Beers and chips, boys?"

"Please!"

"And thank you!"

She shook her head and headed to the kicthen to grab a bag of potato chips and three bottles of Muggle beer. She handed each twin a beer, which proved difficult since their eyes were glued to the television set.

"Fred! Take your bloody bottle!"

"Yes, yes, sorry. This Jeff character is CRAZY!"

Mira nodded, "He's quite hilarious. Everything he says is bloody brilliant."

"Not as brilliant as us, o'course."

"Of course, George. Of course. Jeff doesn't hold a candle to you two..."

When "Coupling" was finally over, and Mira could once again retain the attention of the Weasley twins for more then two seconds, she asked them where they hid their bugs.

"End of the bar closest to the bathroom."

"Under a table towards the back."

"Perfect. I was at the center of the bar, but more towards the door."

"But Mira, how will we hear all the bugs?"

"My lap-top is set up so that it will make seperate folders for each bug and will record whenever key words are mentioned like 'Malfoy' or 'Snape' or something to that effect."

"Ah, yes."

"So then what next?"

"Well, my Healer exams are on Tuesday, so Tuesday night we could meet again to listen to any updates."

"Sounds perfect!"

"And then this weekend we can go back and maybe try to start conversations or plant more bugs if we find nothing."

"Perfect..."

Fred nudged his brother in the arm. "This weekend we're going to Hogsmeade to visit the youngsters and check out a store property plus clean our flat."

Mira looked between the two, "You have a flat in Hogsmeade too?"

"Aye, that we do."

George's eyes twinkled with a mixture of mischief and excitement, "And Mira dear, as our new honorary partner-in-crime, you're going to come with us to Hogsmead this weekend and spend time with us, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny and help us pick property for our second store."

Mira cocked an eyebrow and had an amused expression on her face, "Oh, I am, am I, Mr. Weasley?"

George grinned, "Yes you are, Mira dear!"

-----------------

A/N: I figure this was enough for now. Next chapter will be the Hogsmeade shenanigans. And "Coupling" is a real, FANTASTICALLY, HILARIOUS, britcom, and it's true that everything Jeff (Richard Coyle) says IS pure genius. And one of the main characters, Steve (Jack Davenport) is Commodore Norrington in "Pirates of the Caribbean"...soooo WATCH THE SHOW! It's on DVD now, there's four seasons, but 1-3 are the best because there's no Jeff in the 4th. 3rd's the funniest though, by far. I thoroughly suggest it.

Next chapter: Fred and Hermione?

PLEASE REVIEW!


	8. New Friends

A/N: Ok...so I've gotten NO reviews for that last chapter and very few for the one before. So I take it NO ONE is reading this...but I don't really care because I'm enjoying writing it...sooooo if you read this...review?

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Getting ready to go to Hogsmeade for the weekend with your mission-partners, newfound friends and possible boyfriend was unsurprisingly difficult.

Mira was frantically searching through all of her clothing to no avail. What kinds of clothing was she supposed to wear? George had seen her in everyday knickers, sweats, jeans and her rebel-pleated skirt. Was she supposed to have sexy lingerie in case Fred left and they got hot-and-heavy, or was that a huge no-no on this casual weekend with friends?

She sat down on her bed and took a deep breath, clearing her mind of all things Hogsmeade-weekend related. After a few deep breaths, she smiled and opened her eyes. She was clearly over thinking this. George didn't care what she wore. As long as she was having fun and not thinking about the mission. And besides, it was a weekend with George, Fred, their sister and the "Golden Trio". It was supposed to be fun. Not filled with short skirts and sexy lingerie.

She waved her wand so that all her clothes were back in their original locations, and she was done packing under 10 minutes. She pulled on a pair of comfy jeans, and a lightweight sweater before pulling on her grey wool pea-coat and matching wool hat. She shrunk her suitcase to fit in her pocket, and making sure all her locks were locked (both magic and otherwise), she Apparated to her office to say good-bye to her father.

"Dad!"

"Phone!"

Mira tapped her foot impatiently outside her Dad's office door until she finally heard the phone 'click'. "I'm leaving for my Hogsmeade weekend."

"With two young men."

"Two dashing, charming, young men."

Thomas gave his daughter a look that clearly said, "_Not_ funny."

"Dad."

"Child."

Mira crossed her arms in front of her chest and raised one eyebrow. "You seriously can't be worried."

"About your safety? No. About your honor..."

"Thomas Jonathan Dean!"

"Mira Evelyn Dean!"

"Seriously Dad. I'm 19. _Please_ pull yourself together."

Mr. Dean sighed and waved his hand to dismiss his daughter. "Fine, fine - have fun, be safe, etc. etc."

"Love you, Pa." She laughed and kissed her dad's cheek before Apparating to Hogsmeade where the twins were already waiting in their flat.

As Mira appeared with a loud CRACK, the twins seemed completely unfazed: "Well, it's about time." "We're to be at the Three Broomsticks in 10 minutes," they both said dryly.

Mira rolled her eyes and slapped Fred up the side of his head as he was seated on a couch right in front of her. "Hey!"

"Where should I put my stuff?"

"My room. I'll be sleeping on the couch."

Mira couldn't help but feel honored at being able to sleep in George's bed, but also upset that she was displacing him, "No, George, I couldn't. Please, I'll sleep on the couch. I love couches..."

"Mira dear, please." And before she could argue again, he lifted her up easily and carried her over his shoulder to his room where he unceremoniously dropped her on his bed.

"Oof! Thanks alot!"

George shrugged and watched her as she pulled her pocket-size suitcase out and enlarged back to its original size. She looked up finally and their eyes met briefly before George seized her lips with his own as he skillfully lowered himself to her level on the bed.

He pulled away eventually to see a lazy grin on Mira's face, "That was nice."

"Yea," he whispered back and held out a hand to lift her up. When she was standing again, he pulled her close to him and kissed her again, her neck arched up so she could reach his mouth.

"George! Mira! Stop snogging and let's go! We're to meet everyone in 3 minutes!"

Mira and George pulled apart and George pushed his forehead against hers. "We better go before he has an anxiety attack."

Mira laughed and they walked out to the kitchen to see Fred tapping his wand against his head. "Worried about Hermione, I think," George whispered hotly in her ear. She shivered slightly and nodded. "I'll see what I can do," she whispered back. "Oi, Fred! Let's go, eh?"

Fred rolled his eyes, "About bloody time," and the trio walked outside to the brisk November winds of Hogsmeade.

They reached the pub in no time, seeing as the twins' flat was only down the street. They entered the crowded pub, and since Mira was standing behind the twins and couldn't see anything over their shoulders, she followed them blindly to the back corner. She skimmed over the heads of current Hogwarts students, but didn't really recognize anyone. There weren't as many students there as she thought there would have been. She put this thought to the back of her mind and almost crashed into George's back when she heard him shout, "Why, if it isn't the Golden Quadruple!"

"Golden Square!" Fred declared, standing next to his twin.

Ron got up, rolling his eyes and attempted to give Fred a handshake, but Fred grabbed his little brothers back, "Ronnekins! A handshake for your favorite brother! Please!"

Ron, his face turning purple from the lack of oxygen saw Mira over Fred's shoulder, seeing as Ron was almost an entire head taller than the twins. "Who's your friend?"

"Ronald!" Mira heard Hermione gasp at Ron's rudeness.

"Hermione's right, Ronnie! How can you be so mean to our new friend and partner-in-crime Mira Dean?" He stepped to the side so that Mira could finally see the "Golden Quadruple" sitting at their table.

"Mira!" Hermione leapt up from her chair, almost knocking Ron over who was still standing. Mira wasn't prepared for the force of the smaller girl's hug. "HowareyouWhathaveyoubeendoingWhyareyouwiththetwins?"

Mira couldn't help but laugh as she and Hermione finally stepped apart. "It's good to see you too, Hermione. But slow down, I barely got a word out of that!"

Hermione laughed nervously, her face growing slightly red from embarrassment."

George smiled at the two, glad he and Mira now had a mutual friend, "Mira, please meet Harry Potter, our sister Ginny, and you've now met our little Ronnekins."

Harry and Ginny stood up and each shook her hand. Mira noticed that Harry's bright emerald eyes bore into hers as he gave her quite the hearty handshake. Mira grinned at them, "It's great to finally meet you both. Fred and George won't stop blabbing on about everyone." She looked over at Ron who was still kind of eyeing her funny, "You too, Ron."

Fred, meanwhile couldn't help but stare at Hermione: Mira was right - the brainy bookworm HAD grown up. Her school robes were open to reveal a tight pair of jeans and a tight V-neck sweater that wasn't too revealing, but showed how she had...what was the word Fred was searching for? _Matured _since he last saw her.

Out of the corner of her eye Mira noticed that Fred was staring intently at Hermione as George gave Ginny a huge bear hug. George then looked at Harry and grinned, "Come here, ya big lug," and gave him a more "manly" "embrace" as he also brotherly ruffled his hair. George looked at Hermione now and Hermione looked defiantly back at him.

"Is it possible for the bookworm to hug the humble prankster in greeting?" Hermione gave a playful scowl but quickly smiled and gave George a hug, all the while looking at Fred over his twin's shoulder.

Ever since the end of her sixth year, Hermione had warmed up considerably to the twins; her crush on Fred diminished slightly since (at the time) he and Angelina seemed semiserious and that helped her be nicer to the twins since she wasn't always embarrassed. But she didn't have to deal with their constant pranks at school anymore which also helped. And she would never admit it, but all of their products from WWW were incredibly funny and obviously intelligently made. She knew the twins were no fools, and even though they had never graduated, she knew they were extremely intelligent. So she had grown closer to the twins if only by being nicer to them.

Fred nodded his greetings to Harry and Ginny who were on the other side of the round table, and as soon as Hermione and George stopped hugging, Ginny sat down first muttering, "Now that that's done..."

Mira, noticing that the "Golden Quadruple" already had Butterbeers stood back up, "I'll go get us drinks..."

"No, Mira, I can get them."

"George, I'm perfectly capable of ordering three mugs of butterbeer. Besides, I'm already standing and this way you can all talk about me before I get back." She winked at the table and excused herself.

"Kinda mental, she is."

"Ronald!"

"Why do you think _everyone_ is mental?"

"You can't say that about my practically-girlfriend!"

"Yea - Harry's right, why do you-" Ginny stopped speaking. "What did you say, George?"

George's cheeks flushed pink slightly, "That you can't call our new friend mental?"

Hermione smiled and shook her head as Ginny's grin grew, "No, no. You two are snog-partners, aren't you?"

Fred was admonished at the bookworm's apparent disregard for decency, "Hermione!"

Hermione responded with a quick glance at Fred, her eyebrow raised in questioning before George nodded, "Yes, yes, fine. We are. But bloody hell Ron, she's a great witch and she's not mental she just knows that you and Harry don't trust her yet." Ron slumped in his chair slightly. "But Fred and I trust her with our lives, so give her a bloody chance!"

Hermione nodded furiously in agreement.

"'Mione, how the hell do you know her?"

"She was a year ahead of us in Ravenclaw and was always in the library. She was top of her year."

"Third, actually. Top of Ravenclaw, but third overall. Thanks though, Hermione."

Hermione couldn't help but blush as Mira set down the three mugs. "So, Hermione, how is the Library Gang?"

Harry spat out the butterbeer that he had just attempted to drink, "You guys have a name!"

"And a _gang_ no less!"

The four boys started howling with laughter until George noticed the _extremely_ annoyed looks on both Hermione and Mira's faces (Ginny sat in her chair twiddling her thumbs and whistling). George coughed to get the others' attentions to stop laughing.

"They're fine," Hermione replied, ignoring the "men", "everyone's pretty much the same. But what about you? What are you doing these days?"

"Well, I just got my Healer's Certificate."

"Congratulations!"

"A healer, wow!"

"And..." Mira looked around the pub - there were only Hogwarts students, "I'm also a Private Investigator."

She said this very softly, but Harry's eyes still lit up at this, "Like a Muggle detective?"

"Yea. My dad and I are in the biz, but I do some magical cases too."

Hermione seemed very impressed and leaning in from across the table asked, "So I bet you're in the Order, right?"

"That's how Fred and I met her. We're working together." (Fred was too busy staring at Hermione as she leaned over the table to respond).

Ron continued to survey the new introduction to their tight-knit group. Not that he didn't trust her...

"So what kinds of stuff do you do?"

Mira grinned and took a sip of her butterbeer before responding to Harry's eager question. She was _thrilled_ that _Harry Potter_ took interest in her career.

George looked at Mira as she answered all of Harry's questions - he was impressed by the way she had so easily and successfully won over his friends and family. She was at ease with them, she seemed so natural with the group and he was - well, he was _proud_ of her. Listening to her simple yet elaborate answers, he couldn't help but become entranced.

Even Ron was enraptured with Mira at this point. She had answered all of Harry's questions truthfully and without hesitation with a voice that was enticing because it was calm, hyper, mature and playful all at the same time.

Finally, when Harry couldn't think of any more questions about Mira's detective career, Ginny whispered, "Why did you never give speeches at Hogwarts? Everyone would have loved you! Even the Slytherins!"

Mira laughed, "I doubt the Slytherins would have appreciated anything I had to say." She leaned back in her chair, mug in hand, and took a long drink. She looked at Ron over the rim and met his eyes looking back at her. "Well, Ron? Do you still not trust me?"

Ron's jaw dropped in horrified shock and started to gape like a fish.

"Serves you right, Ron," Fred said, with a mock-air of contempt.

Mira grinned at Ron and said, "Didn't mean to put you on the spot. We okay?"

Ron nodded, his ears still red, "Yea. Sorry 'bout being so rude before - "

" - He always is anyways," Ginny finished.

Everyone laughed at Ron's expense for a quick bit before chatting about the upcoming weekend.

"So you three are here to look at property?"

"Aye. Fred and I actually have an appointment in an hour or so. You four can keep on eye on our Mira, right?"

Mira turned to her "snog-partner", a perfectly shaped brow arched, her bright green-grey eyes twinkling, "So I need four baby-sitters now? And ones that are younger than me?"

"Obviously, my dear." He took a sip of his butterbeer and turned back to everyone, "If you guys want to sneak out this evening, we can have a small get together at our flat-"

Hermione raised her hand to stop him. "George, you _know_ we can't. It's much too dangerous." She stole a quick glance to Fred to see how he'd react to this statement.

"But Hermione! It'll just be us, a little firewhiskey, a little bit of fun..."

"No."

"Hermione!"

"'Mione! It could be fun!"

"And as Seventh years we can take extra Hogsmeade trips..."

"What about Ginny?"

"I'll sneak out!"

Hermione thought for a moment, her brain racking for a _possible_, _SAFE_ alternative...

"Not at night-"

"-Bu-"

"Today's Friday. So, we can all come in tomorrow _during the day_ and we'll just make sure to be at the castle by dark."

Everyone cheered, Ron and Harry slapping her on the back. "Oh quiet, you lot. I just think we all need to let loose every once in a while."

"Who would have thought that one Miss Hermione Granger, Resident Know-It-All and Smartest Witch Currently at Hogwarts would agree to a Weasley Twin's Bacchanal?"

Hermione stuck her tongue out at Mira's playful teasing and took another sip of her butterbeer.

George looked at his wristwatch and interrupted the celebrations, "Well, Fred and I must depart, keep an eye on Mira, and we'll meet up with you lot later." He stood up, his hand on the back of Mira's chair, and before he could even rationalize his thought, kissed her on the cheek before he and Fred, dropping their money, left with a final wave.

Ginny looked pointedly at Mira once the twins had left. Mira innocently took a drink, "What?"

Before Ginny could respond, Hermione chimed in, "Let's go for a walk. I'm tired of being cooped up in here."

"Agreed!" The five of them left their money on the table, and grabbing their jackets and cloaks, exited the pub into the somewhat deserted street.

Mira put on her hat, "Where to?"

Ron looked at Harry, "Quidditch Supplies?"

"You guys go, we'll catch up later."

Ron and Harry started towards the new Quidditch store as the three girls headed in the opposite direction. Ginny grinned at Mira, "Spill. And don't play innocent."

Mira couldn't help but grin, but sighed for dramatic effect which made the younger girls laugh. "I went to WWW the day I was um...scheduled to meet your brothers, and of _course_ I knew who they were, I mean, I _did_ go to Hogwarts...and I thought they were cute, and then your Dad stuck us three together."

"And..."

"And...now we're all good friends. It's like we've known each other forever."

"And...?"

Mira laughed, "Bloody hell you're relentless, Ginny! We're taking it slow...and I haven't told _him_ this, so keep quiet, but none of my past relationships last very long seeing as I always end up becoming bored. But I doubt that'll be a problem."

Ginny seemed satisfied with this answer and declared, "I think you'll be good for George."

"Thanks," she replied almost sheepishly. Getting Ginny's approval was almost surreal and vital. But now she turned to Hermione. "So Hermione. I saw you stealing glances at Fred..."

Hermion blushed and looked away from the two girls, "Look! Madam Jossette's!" She started to pick up her pace, but Mira and Ginny knew what she was attempting and cut her off.

"Mira's right Hermione. Do you still like him?"

Hermione's brown eyes darted between Mira and Ginny's, looking for an escape. She soon gave a defeated sigh. "Yes, I have a crush on him again. But what's the point? Isn't he still heartbroken over Angelina?"

Mira shook her head, "No, he's gotten over her. We talked about it, and he realized he never _truly_ loved her."

Hermione's eyes brightened slightly as the three girls began to walk again, Ginny and Mira grinning at each other for their small victory.

But then Hermione stopped walking, her face crestfallen. Mira and Ginny backtracked when they realized this, "What's wrong?"

"Who says he's going to like me? I'm just Hermione Granger, the insufferable Know-It-All."

Hermione looked down at her feet and Ginny nodded at Mira, knowing this was best-friend territory. "Hermione. You do know alot, but you are not all-knowing, and you are _not_ insufferable. And you've changed. Fred's changed. He's not nearly as immature - he's an adult now, and you know as well as I that he acts like an adult too. And you're more mature now too - you don't yell at them as much - you accept them now and they know it." Ginny's honey-brown eyes bore into Hermione's chocolate ones. "Give it a chance. I'm sure he'll come around."

Hermione sighed, "It's worth a shot..."

"That's the spirit, Hermione! And look - Jossette's having a bra and panties sale!" Ginny's eyes were twinkling, "And I think _both_ of you need sexy new knickers and bras..."

And before either could argue, Ginny was dragging the two inside - "I guess I _could_ use new knickers..."

--------------

Fred and George walked around the abandoned building that was next door to the Quidditch Supplies Shop. They were examining the shop as an older witch was doing her best to sell it to them.

"And it's in a prime location! Right next to - "

"We'll take it."

"Sorry?"

"We'll buy it. It needs some work, but that won't take long."

The saleswoman was obviously flabbergasted - they had only taken a few minutes to look at it! "Well, okay, you'll just need to sign here." A parchment and quill appeared and the twins both signed it.

"Perfect. Pleasure doing business with you, Mrs. Carsey."

"Thank you, gentlemen. Good luck!" And with a loud CRACK! she was gone.

"Well, brother."

"We're gentlemen."

"Yes."

"Our latest endeavor."

"Nice word."

"Thank you kindly."

"We should put up a sign so the kids can get prepared."

"Agreed." They walked outside and Fred conjured up a WWW sign over the door, and George a "Coming Soon" sign across the window. They walked back inside and looked around. "We'll need to add on a backroom."

"And laboratory."

"We'll need another salesperson."

"Verity could train her."

"Or him."

"Aye."

"We need to clean this place."

"Not now."

"Agreed. We should inform Verity of our purchase."

"And our search for her apprentice."

"Post?"

"Let's go."

The twins locked the store with the key the saleswoman had left and headed off to the Owerly to write a quick note to Verity before agreeing to stop by the Quidditch Supplies Shop.

--------------------

The three girls entered the lingerie shop and were immediately bombarded by a large array of colors and to Mira's distaste - lace.

"Merlin, I hate lace."

Ginny looked shocked, "How can you _hate_ lace?"

"It's so..." she tugged at a pair of knickers that had _layers_ of lace, "...frilly." She shuddered.

Ginny laughed, "There _is_ such a thing as too much lace, but a little can be sexy."

Mira looked at Ginny, knowing full well she'd be forced to try on something lacy. "I hate lace," she pouted.

Hermione, meanwhile, wandered around the store in bewilderment. She found her friends and muttered, "None of these seem very practical."

Ginny smiled, "That's the point. They're _sexy_. _Fun. Exciting._ Not sensible." She continued to guide the two older girls around the store, helping them pick un-practical (but fun!) undergarments to try on.

"Put on a set and then come fashion them off."

Mira and Hermione looked at each other and then back at Ginny. "Oh, quit being such babies. You're both attractive and we're all females." They didn't' budge. Ginny threw up her hands, "Fine! I'll try on some too!" She stalked away, muttering under her breath, and returned a moment later with her own selections. "Now go."

Mira felt weird fashioning off knickers and bras to her new friends, but it was almost _liberating_ at the same time. She stripped off all her clothes and tugged on her first set - plain cobalt. "You guys ready?"

The three girls stepped out and looked at each other. "Hermione, that's _really_ cute."

"It's really bright." She was wearing bright plaid.

"It's really sexy - I really like colors on you."

Hermione couldn't help but smile, her self-esteem rising slightly from the compliments. "Ginny, I think you look amazing."

"Yea, you can totally pull of lace!" Ginny grinned and playfully twirled around.

"I love the blue, Mira. But try something _exciting_ on now!"

Mira mock-saluted her and stepped back into her dressing room. The next time she stepped out, Ginny's jaw almost dropped - even Hermione couldn't help but stare.

"What?"

"That - is one of the weirdest knickers ever - "

" - and yet is one of the sexiest ever." Mira blushed.

"You guys! It's just black with a giant skull and crossbones!"

"But look at you! Your chest looks amazing!"

Mira and Ginny turned to stare at Hermione and then started to howl with laughter. "I guess I'll just have to keep this one then!"

Ginny was wearing a white lace set with small cherries and Hermione a bright magenta.

They went on like this for quite some time - laughing, complimenting and joking around as if they'd known each other for years.

Mira ended up buying the black pirate set, a bright blue one with the Ravenclaw crest and (sadly) a lacy British flag set. (Ginny had forced each of them to buy at least one lacy set). Hermione bought the bright plaid, red lace with black bows that was _incredibly_ sexy and took a lot of coaxing to convince her to buy it, and a purple polka-dotted one that was "fun!". Ginny bought the cherry set, a black set that had the Gryffindor crest, and a navy blue set that had a large yellow lightning blot on both the knickers and bra to which Hermione exclaimed, "If Harry ever saw those, he'd go crazy!" and Ginny only grinned wildly.

The three girls grabbed their shopping bags, and shrunk them to fit in their pockets. Knowing full well that Harry and Ron would still be in the Quidditch Shop, decided to walk in that direction.

And that's exactly where they found the four guys: drooling over different Quidditch supplies.

"Men," Mira sighed and shook her head when she, Hermione and Ginny were standing right behind them.

Ron looked up first, "Oh, quiet. We were just waiting for you three anyway."

"Sure, Ron."

"Listen, we better head back to Hogwarts," Hermione looked at the twins, "at what time should we smuggle Ginny out?"

George smirked and looked at his twin who shrugged, "11ish?"

Hermione nodded. "See you three tomorrow then," she gave Mira a tight hug, "good to see you again."

"You too, Hermione."

Ginny hugged Mira, "Good to meet you," and then whispered, "wear one of those tonight!"

And before Mira could react, she and the others left the store with a wave.

Mira looked at the twins, "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Well what?"

Mira rolled her eyes and stepped outside, the twins directly behind her, "Your property appointment?"

"Oh, we bought it," Fred said nonchalantly as he examined his nails.

"Congratulations, you prats!" And put one arm around each, "Can I see it?"

"Of course! You can help us fix it up!"

Mira stopped walking, "Pardon?"

"Fred and I are going to clean, repair, expand - not today of course - and you can help!"

Mira pretended to look offended, "What?"

George looked nervous now, "Only if you want-"

Mira kissed his cheek, "Course I'll help my partners-in-crime!"

George and Fred grinned as they opened the door, "Well?"

"Lovely!"

"Needs _some_ work."

"I like it though! It's good!"

"Yea, it is."

"Good location too!"

"Yes, yes, can we eat something?"

Mira started laughing, "A celebratory dinner and drink?"

"You read my mind!"

"Why were you never friends with us before?"

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A/N: WELL! PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! I think EVERYONE will like the next chapter! )


	9. Here, Here!

Mira, Fred and George ate dinner at the casual Gryphon Cafe and then walked back to the twins' flat for a few drinks.

"Not too many."

"We'll need to buy some for tomorrow."

"Harry can drink a lot."

"So can Ron."

"Although Mira can handle more than Ron."

Mira poured each of them a shot of firewhiskey. "To your new store!"

"Here, here!"

She poured another, "To a franchise!"

"Here, here!"

"To our last drink for tonight!"

"Boo!"

They did stop at three however, and continued to chat over ice-cream that was hiding in the freezer.

"So Fred. Caught you looking at Hermione."

Fred's eyes got large and bewildered, "Um-um-um wh-what?"

Mira smirked and looked at George, "Tomorrow should be fun!"

Fred looked between the two, extremely fearful, "You're not gonna try anything, are you?"

Mira's face and demeanour softened at the look of fear and apprehension on his face, "Fred, she really likes you-"

"And mate," George said, "I _know_ you've always found her intriguing."

Fred nodded, "I have."

"And you've both changed - she's loosened up slightly, you've matured."

Mira nodded, "Opposites do attract."

George looked at her oddly, "Sometimes." She nodded her head towards Fred, obviously annoyed, "But in your case, definetly."

Fred looked up slightly more cheerful, "We'll just have to see, won't we?"

Mira and George both smiled and Mira stifled a yawn, "Well, I'm exhausted, so I think I'll go to sleep. And George," she put a hand on his, "i _can_ sleep on the couch."

He shook his head, "No, no. I will. I just need to get some things from my room."

Fred bid the two goodnight and headed to his own room as Mira and George went to his. He grabbed a pair of boxers and went to the bathroom as Mira searched for her own pajamas. She thought about what Ginny had whispered to her earlier and shook her head. She'd wear fun knickers tomorrow. Not now when she was ready to sleep.

She was just slipping on her shorts when George knocked and reentered. Mira's eyes turned a shade darker when she feasted her eyes on his bare chest.

His bare, _toned_ chest.

He threw his clothes in a heap on the floor as he met her halfway across the room in a passionate kiss, her hands roaming over his chest, his hands playing with the hem of her shirt.

"Wait," she whispered, "let me change into something sexy?"

"No," George's voice was throaty, "I like you fine now," and pulled her shirt over her head and began to caress her breasts as he kissed her again.

Whe she started to let out soft gasps when he began to kiss her pulse point as he continued with her breast, he couldn't help but get hard. Mira smirked as she played with the hem of his boxers until he sucked very hard on her pulse point and she let out a moan. "George," she managed to get out between small gasps, "are these walls soundproof?"

He nodded and stopped to look deep into her eyes, "If we keep going, I don't think I'll be able to stop-"

But before he could continue, she had turned him around and pushed him lightly on to his bed, "That answer your question?" she cocked an eyebrown and 'tutted' at his boxers waving a finger, "Now this just doens't do," and she began to kiss her way down his chest to the hem of his boxers, where she forcefully pulled them off his feet. She looked at his throbbing member and grinned, "Nice."

George didn't like having Mira on top. And he didn't like the fact that her shorts and knickers were still on, so when she came up to kiss him again, he wrapped his feet around her legs and skillfully flipped them so he was on top. "Now, now, Ms. Dean. You can't have all the fun." And he pulled off her shorts with a smirk. She grinned up at him and put her hands in his hair, gently massaging his scalp. He smiled, his eyes slightly glazed and began to kiss her stomach towards the waistline of her knickers. "George," she whispered, "quit with the foreplay. I need you inside of me. Now."

He didn't need to be told twice. He ripped off her knickers and hovered over her, "George," she whimpered, "please!" With one gentle thrust and moans from both, he was inside of her. Never had she felt so filled completely. He seemed perfect. He opened his hazel-green eyes and stared into her beautiful green-grey ones. They moved in perfect rhythm, and soon enough Mira wrapped her legs around his waist so that he was deeper inside of her - they both moaned in pleasure with this. "Faster," she whispered hotly into his ear, and he did. His thrusts became faster and harder and soon they both screamed out in ectasy when they both came.

George collasped next to her and delicately pulled himself out. "Hm," she whispered, and turning on her side, slid a finger down his cheek.

He looked into her eyes, "That was nice."

She grinned, her eyes twinkling, and George noticed they became more green when they twinkled, "That was my first orgasm."

George looked shocked, "No!"

She nodded, "You were my first orgasm."

George laughed softly and put his arm around her waist to pull her closer to him. "I'm glad."

"Me too," she whispered and then laughed, "this is so cliche!"

George looked offened, "What? Cuddling after sex?"

Mira laughed some more and nodded, "And me confessing to never having an orgasm."

George pouted, "But it's nice to be cliche every so often."

Mira smiled again and put her hand on his _lovely_ chest. "It is."

They were silent for a few seconds when George asked her, "What were you going to put on that was more sexy?"

Mira shook her head, "Maybe you'll see tomorrow."

George wiggled his eyebrows, "Ah, tomorrow, hm?"

She laughed, "Yes, perhaps I'll get drunk enough that I'll let you ravish me again."

"Hey!"

Mira playfully hit his chest but he pulled her so close to him that her voice was muffled by his chest.

"Sorry, dear, what was that?"

He loosened his grip so she could look up at him, "I was kidding!" He nodded and kissed her lightly on the mouth.

"I know. Can we sleep now?"

Mira laughed, "Course."

George's eyes began to close when Mira asked him softly, "Ron and Harry liked me, right?"

George opened one eye to see Mira looking very concerned, "Course they did. And Ron and Harry don't like just anybody. They opened up to you very fast. Which was expected."

Mira couldn't help but smile, "Thanks."

"And Ginny seemed to like you too."

"Yea, I think we really hit it off."

George grinned and pushed some of her raven-black hair behind her ear, "I'm glad you like my friends."

"And I'm glad your friends like me."

George smiled at her again and pulled the sheet and blanket over them so they could go to sleep. Mira snuggled closer to him and kissing him lightly whispered, "Goodnight."

They both fell asleep instantly. George was the first to wake, his arm still firmly around her waist, her head still pillowed on his chest. He kissed her head and stroked her head. He moved slightly to adjust the cramp in his leg when he heard, "Morning, Sunshine."

"You talking to me, or the actual sun?"

Mira laughed, "The actual sun."

George pouted and she hit his arm playfully. "Come on, let go of me I have to shower."

George sighed, "I could help you with that shower..."

Mira grinned again, "Sorry, bud. Not this time!" She got out of bed, (reluctantly, since it was freezing), and grabbed one of George's big t-shirts to walk across the hall to the bathroom in.

George laid back down, his arms underneath his head and slowly fell back to sleep only to be woken up a few seconds later by a pounding on the door.

"Everyone decent?"

"She's in the shower."

Fred opened the door and popped his head in. "How'd ya know?"

"We're twins, you prat. And besides, the couch was untouched this morning."

"Ah, yes. That could give it away."

"Everyone's coming in 2 hours. We should eat before that."

"Yea, yea." He looked at his twin, "Nervous?" he asked cheekily.

Fred dashed from the room, "What makes you say that?"

George chuckled and after finally finding his boxers, followed Fred to the kitchen. "We got enought Firewhiskey?"

Fred nodded, "We had a stash left over."

"Brilliant. What should we have for lunch?"

Fred shrugged, "There's left over Chinese in the fridge from yesterday's."

The two ate in silence and soo enough, Mira walked in, her hair dry and straight and wearing jeans and a simple red t-shirt that read, "Magnum P.I."

George slapped Fred once he realized he was staring at her chest. "Ouch! Geez, Mr. Over-Protective. I was just trying to figure out what the bloody hell a Magnum PI is."

"An American Muggle show from the 80's."

"You watch waaay too much muggle television, Mira dear."

Mira grabbed a container of Chinese food and a fork, plopping her self down on a chair replied cheekily, "You just don't watch enough, _dear._" She ate a forkful and then nearly shouted her next thought, "I'm taking you shopping for Muggle Appliances!"

George and Fred both started sputtering (with food in their mouths - Mira muttered "Lovely" under her breath). "What do we need appliances for?"

"You _need_ a television. Trust me, it will change your life!" She was getting excited now, "AND, I can take you to the cinema and introduce you to muggle films-"

"Mira! Calm down!"

Mira didn't stop, "You'll love all the films! I have so many! Merlin, which should be your first? You're both film-virgins!"

Fred and George looked at each other, "Hey, she's your practically-girlfriend."

"Shhh! We haven't had that talk yet!"

Fred smirked, "Not yet, eh?"

"Quiet you, or I'll tell Hermione you love her soon as she walks through that door."

Fred did a zipping motion over his lips.

"Mira, please calm down. Fred and I will like any film. And we can watch a whole bunch, and you can take us Muggle shopping, but please calm down?"

Mira looked at George with a look that read, 'How Can I be Calm?' but sighed, "Fine, fine. But this week! We're seeing at least one movie at my place and then we'll go shopping!"

"Deal." George and MIra shook hands and Fred looked at the clock, "They're coming in 20 minutes!" He and George both raced to their rooms to shower and change which left Mira to clean the kitchen.

She whistled as she waved her wand to bid the dishes to the sink and the napkins and empty containers to the trash. "I feel like Snow White," she said to herself and grinned at the thought that Snow White wouldn't be wearing sexy black pirate knickers and bra underneath her clothes.

Once the kitchen was clean, she sat down on the couch and waited until Fred and George reemerged from their rooms.

But before anyone could say anything about the boys being ready last, there was a knock on the flat door. "Coming, children!" Fred called and opened the door to reveal the "Golden Quadruple".

"Welcome to our humble abode, dear ones," George bowed and waved his arm so that they could enter.

"Enough with the welcomes, I need a drink," Ron pushed past his brothers and into the main room, "well?" He whirled around, looking frantically for a drink.

"Ronald here, had a heated argument with Luna and now wants to do nothing but have himself a few shots." Ron grimaced at Hermione as Mira brought out the bottle of firewhiskey and a few shot glasses.

"Just one?" Harry asked speculatively, "I haven't gotten smashed in ages."

"Yea, since what, this summer?" George retorted.

Mira smiled, "There's more. Beers anyone? Or just firewhiskey and vodka?"

"Does anyone else find it pathetic that we're getting wasted at 11am on a Saturday morning?"

Fred smiled, "Hey, you guys couldn't come at night!"

"For good reasons," Hermione replied, meeting Fred's eyes without blushing.

Fred wavered slightly under her stare, but kept his cool until George cleared his throat.

"We'll get out a bottle of firewhiskey and vodka for now, because there are some ground rules, children. NO vomitting! NO fist-fights! And you all have to leave by 6, so no more drinking after 3. We can't have you return to Hogwarts buzzed."

"I have an antidote for that. As long as someone is not completely waster at 4, we should all be okay."

Mira grinned, "That's why she's Head Girl!"

"Okay, no drinking after 4. Now, shall we play a drinking game?"

Fred and Harry moved the couches and chairs so they were in a circle around the coffee table. "What game?"

They all looked at each other, "We played 'Never Have I Ever last time..."

"But what else is there to play?"

Mira smiled, "We can play a song that repeats the same phrase, and take a drink everytime they say it."

Everyone nodded, "What song?"

"Well, there's one that I did a few times at some Muggle parties, but we need beers. It's repeated too many times for shots."

Ginny made a face, "I hate beer. How about half a shot?"

Mira nodded, "That works," she looked at the twins, "got a music player?"

"What do you think?"

Mira sighed and went to George's room to pull out her iPod and her speakers, "Fine, here," everyone waited until they heard the beginning of the song. Mira paused it, "Ok, everytime The Police sing, 'Turn off the red light', the guys will drink, and everytime they say 'Roxanne', we'll drink." She looked around the impromtu circle, "Got it?"

Everyone nodded, "Play the song!"

Once the song ended, everyone was more than a little tipsy, but Hermione, Ginny and Ron were the worst off. Hermione was giggling constantly which garnered looks from the twins and Mira would had never seen her drunk. George whispered something in Mira's ear and she shivered but nodded, how _were_ they going to get Hermione to stop giggling and alone with Fred?

Hermione stood up suddenly and declared, "I'm hungry, where's your food?"

George nudged Fred so hard that he nearly shouted "Ow!", but it got the attention of Hermione who grabbed his hand and tried to pull him up saying, "You live here, Fred. Come help me find food."

Once they had left the main room Mira and George high-fived and Ginny was grinning, "Good job, George!"

George did a bow from his seat, "Thank ye, thank ye. It was almost too easy."

Harry looked at George, "They like each other?"

"Duh, Harry...geez, you _are_ daft." Everyone looked at Ron who poured himself another shot of firewhiskey.

"I guess Ron's okay with it then?"

Ginny nodded, "He has a crush on Luna Lovegood!"

"Bloody hell Ginny, did you have to tell everyone?" He threw himself back so he was slumped against the back of the couch, "But she's so, so, so! I don't even know! But she can't _possibly_ believe half those creatures exist..."

Everyone shrugged and sat around quietly for a moment, trying to overhear what was going on in the kitchen. When they couldn't hear anything, Mira stood up and slipped off her sneakers, "I'll go check on them, be quiet!"

She tip-toed over to the kitchen and hiding behind the wall next to the door, stuck her head around the corner and couldn't help but grin with what she saw.

He was snogging Hermione. He was actually snogging Ms. Hermione Granger Resident Hogwarts Bookworm. But that only went through his mind at first, now nothing was going through his mind because he was snogging her, and it was the best snog of his entire life. Better than any snog he and Angelina shared.

Hermione was running her hands through Fred's hair and he pulled her closer to him so that their chests were crushed up against each other's. There was no space between the two of them; they were practically one person with eight limbs. Eventually Fred pulled apart, needing a breath and Hermione pouted as she slowly opened her brown eyes staring into Fred's own blue-hazel ones. He bit back a grin, "You want this, right?"

"Even though I'm slightly drunk?" She smiled as his face changed to being serious again, "Of course, I've wanted this for a while, Fred."

Hermione had never seen Fred smile so hugely, his eyes were so bright with happiness and _she_ couldn't have been happier when Fred leaned in to kiss her again.

Mira had, meanwhile, gone back to the main room, "Yep, they're snogging."

Everyone (but Ron who was dozing off) clinked glasses, "To Fred and Hermione!"

"Here, here!"

Ginny, who was sitting next to Harry slid him another glass full of vodka, "Harry, you're not wasted enough, come on."

Harry looked at her, knowing full well that if he got drunk he'd want to snog her more than he wanted to snog her all the time. And today she looked gorgeous, even in her simple muggle jeans and tank-top...but then she moved and her bra strap popped out from underneath her shirt. He grabbed the glass and without taking his eyes off of her, downed the contents of the glass, "Another," he muttered, and Ginny (smiling knowingly) poured him another glass, spilling only a little on the table.

Mira and George were watching this interaction and looked at each other. "Another drink, my good sir?"

"Thank you, good lady." They clinked glasses and downed the shot. "Should we help those two move along by snogging ourselves?"

"You read my mind, Cowboy."

He cocked his head to the side as he grabbed her wait and pulled her closer, "Cowboy?"

She shurgged, "American Muggle thing."

"Mira, my dear, _you_ are extremely odd."

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A/N: THANK YOU, EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED! It means very very much, and I'm very excited some people finally reviewed! I bet you didn't see the Mira/George action happen, eh? And no, I've never _actually_ seen Magnum PI, but I knew there was a red (mustang?) and Tom Selleck and his omnipresent mustache. (Looove the 'stache, Tommy. You work that thing!) And no, I've never _actually_ played a drinking game to The Police's 'Roxanne' only because we don't play games usually...but I wish my friends would! Stupid idiots...ah well. College comes soon, and so do drinking games! HOOORAY! Anyway, The Police are good, and I hope everyone was pleased with this chapter...please review? THANKS!

-Tate Dean!


	10. My Best Chums

A/N: Ok. So. THANK YOU (times a billion) to those of you who reviewed. I just have a few questions - how is it that my story has had 2104 hits and has 15 authors alerted and is on 7 favs list and yet VERY FEW (IF ANY) REVIEW? what has the world come to, my friends? It's getting kind of ridiculous...! Anyway, now that I'm done (for now) ranting, Verdegrises means green-grey...aka the color of Mira's eyes...nice, eh? And does anyone know how the hell I ended up in some random C2 community! (One where any fic is allowed? - I don't know either I guess...)

ANYWAY, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, IF YOU READ THIS, DON'T BE STINGY, AND BLOODY REVIEW!

Thank ye, verr much.

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George grinned against Mira's lips, "Should we take this to the bedroom?"

Mira looked into George's eyes and flicked his ear, "Not when everyone's here!" George looked slightly crestfallen and massaged his ear, "Oh, does little Georgie's ear hurt?" Mira leaned over and kissed it.

George grabbed her waist and pushed her down on the couch and began to tickle her incessantly. "George!" she managed between squeals and giggles, "George!" she tried to breath, but George kept tickling her and laughed, "Fine! Uncle!". He didn't stop. "UNCLE!" He stopped tickling Mira, only to look up and see 4 pairs of eyes on him.

"Merlin, we thought someone died!" Mira sat up and couldn't help but laugh at Hermione and Fred's appearances - swollen lips, tousled hair.

"Looks like you two had fun..."

Hermione "hmphed" and grabbed Fred's hand, "Anyone else hungry?"

Harry and Ginny agreed quickly and trying not to look suspicious, began flattening their hair. Mira looked at the two of them and shook her head.

"Is everyone sober enough to go to Hogsmeade for food?"

Hermione shook her head, "Can someone just get take-out?"

George raised his hand, "Mira and I will go so Ron can keep sleeping and the rest of you can keep snogging."

Fred punched his twin's shoulder as Mira summoned her coat and George's robes. Mira and George walked out of the flat and out onto the street when Mira asked softly, "Just hold my hand?"

George looked at her as his right hand reached to interlace with her left, "Are we dating then?"

Mira smiled, now shy, "I think so."

"Good."

"I mean, I did-"

He held his free hand to her mouth, "Just let the moment be."

She nodded her head and licked his palmed. "Ew! How old are you?"

She smiled and stuck her tongue out at him, "What does it matter when I hang out with the Weasley twins?"

They continued to walk in silence, hand-in-hand until across the street someone shouted, "Mira Dean?"

A witch and wizard walked over, both wearing black robes, and before Mira could say a word in greeting, the woman gave her an awkward hug. "Mira, how _are_ you?"

"Fine, Candice. And yourself?"

"Great."

Mira now nodded to the man, "'Lo, Richard."

Richard grinned and gave an extremely surprised Mira, a hug, "Hiya, Mira."

George shuffled his feet, slightly uncomfortable with the awkward silence and hugs. Richard finally released Mira and said, "A bunch of us are having drinks. You should come with."

Mira shook her head not bothering to look at Candice, "Oh, no thanks. I'm actually here for the weekend with my boyfriend. You guys remember George Weasley, right?" Mira grabbed his hand.

Candice looked slightly...aggravated, but before she could retort, Richard replied, "Of course! Half of the famous Weasley twins." He stuck his hand out, "Richard Wallenburg, pleasure to meet you."

"You too." George looked at Candice who crossed her arms and looked pointedly at Richard, "We should be-"

"So Richard," Mira interrupted, her eyebrow's twitch the only sign that she was thrilled Candice was annoyed, "What do you do now?"

"I'm an intern at the Department of Foreign Affairs. And Candice here is an Assistant at the Department of Unlicensed Wands."

George saw Mira's lip twitch, but beat her to the punch, "Didn't know such a department existed."

Richard ignored George's comment, but Candice glared at him. "What do you do, Mira?"

"Well, Richard, I just received my Healer's License."

"Wow, that was quick!"

"I know, thanks."

Candice tapped her foot impatiently to get Richard's attention. "Oh, well we better go...it was nice to see you again, Mira. Nice to meet you, George."

"Bye Richard! Candice." Candice turned on her heel and stalked away, Richard in tow. George looked to his girlfriend as she pulled his hand so they could keep walking.

"So. Who were those your best mates then?"

"Quiet."

"Year-mates?"

"Unfortunately."

"You and Candice seemed chummy."

"She hated me because I was Muggle and smarter than her, so she treated me like shit, calling my horrible names and such."

"Ah."

"Which is why I'm rightfully gloating in the fact that she now works as an assistant in a department that is practically nonexistent. Karma's a bitch."

George gave her a moment to breath seeing as there was practically smoke coming from her ears. "And who was this Richard guy? You guys seemed less...spiteful towards each other?"

"Richard and I dated for a week back in the beginning of fifth year."

George really didn't know how to respond to Mira's blunt and honest response. He couldn't be jealous of a guy she had dated for a week 3 years ago - could he? George had assumed that Mira had dated (obviously since she was _clearly_ not a virgin...) but he had never knowingly met one of her ex-boyfriends. So had did one to respond to such a statement?

"Oh. That's lovely."

Mira could immediately tell from George's hollow tone that he was uncomfortable with the situation. She stopped walking and turned towards him, right in the middle of the Hogsmeade street. "George. You can not possibly be jealous of Richard. We dated for a week. Then I dumped him because he was the most boring and humorless guys I have ever met. And the only reason we're even still civil to each other is because he has not personality so there's nothing for me to hate."

George nodded, not entirely convinced. "George," she fingered the collar of his robe, "he was boring in everything he does. And you," she kissed him lightly on the lips, "are anything but."

George smiled, "What can I say? Boring just isn't in my vocabulary."

Mira smiled and kissed him again before they continued their walk, "Which is why you just used it in a sentence."

"Bloody hell!"

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Fred and Hermione were back in the kitchen. Hermione was sitting on Fred's lap having a drink of water as he stroked her cheek. "I wish I didn't have to go back to Hogwarts."

Fred smiled, "Clearly that's the alcohol talking. The Hermione Granger _I_ know would never want to _leave_ Hogwarts, no matter how much she wanted to snog the most handsome-" Hermione pinched his arm. "Ow! What was that for!"

Hermione grinned but didn't say anything as she kissed him again to shut him up.

They broke apart reluctantly when they heard the front door slam and George announce, "FOOD!"

George and Mira dropped the food on the kitchen table as Harry and Ginny prodded Ron awake. Hermione, still on Fred's lap, helped herself to a tea sandwich, and when Fred coughed indignantly behind her, got him one too.

"I'm glad to see you guys are so comfortable with each other." Fred nodded. "Perhaps this flat will be used more often, even when you're not working on the store."

Hermione scowled at Mira jokingly, "Well, then you'll be at the Diagon flat a lot, won't you?"

"Ouch, Mione! Below the belt!" She dodged a piece of toast that Hermione lobbed at her.

"Play nice, children."

Ron groggingly shuffled into the kitchen, "Fmm?" he mumbled.

George threw a sandwich at him, "Sleeping Beauty has arisen!"

Ron mumbled incoherently and shoved the sandwich in his mouth.

"What too you guys so long to get the food?"

"Ran into some of Mira's favorite people."

"Oh? Who?" Ginny asked as she took a bite.

"Some year-mates whom I detest."

"Ah. My favorite."

"Ginny, who in your year do you hate?"

Ginny looked at Ron in disbelief, "Wow. You really _are_ that daft. Why do you think I hang out with you lot?"

"And Luna."

Ginny rolled her eyes, "Course. And precious Luna."

"So wait," Harry turned to Hermione and Fred, "Mione, how long have you fancied Fred?"

Hermione blushed, "A looong time."

"Seriously?" Fred maneuvered his head to look at her."

Hermione nodded, "Why do you think I was always so dreadful to you?"

Fred responded by grabbing her face and kissing her hard.

"Merlin! Get a bloody room!"

"Please! You're making me sick!"

"I'm gonna hurl!"

"Oh, quiet. The rest of you were snogging before."

"I wasn't!"

"That's because Luna's not here."

"Shut it."

"Seriously, I'm trying to eat."

-----------

The seven went back to sit in the living room, no longer feeling like drinking but just sitting around and talking. Hermione's head was on Fred's shoulder, his arm around her and their hands intertwined.

Mira sighed, "And to think, all we needed was a hungry Hermione and a quick shove."

Everyone laughed, including Hermione and Fred. "So I guess we have to thank you?"

George smiled, "Nah, you two would have come around eventually."

Mira glared over to Harry and Ginny who were sitting on either side of Ron. She'd heard from the twins that Harry had broken it off in order to protect her. As noble as that was, it must have been frustrating and tense for both. Especially since they'd just snogged.

"So what are you three investigating anyway?"

"Sorry, Harry. Exclusive Order Business."

"Come on! He told you about-"

"Ron!"

Mira looked between Harry, Ron and Hermione. The tension was now overpowering. "It's all right. I can leave and you can soundproof the flat." She got up, but George grabbed her belt loops and pulled her back on to the couch.

"Mira, it's not like that."

Mira nodded, "Yes it is. Come on, I've just met Harry, Ron and Ginny. They can't be expected to trust me like they trust you," she paused and looked at Harry, "I'll go for a walk and you can soundproof the flat."

Harry stared back at Mira, his bright emerald eyes seemingly peering in her soul. "It's okay, Harry. You can discuss your business and then the twins can tell you about our mission."

She got up again and before anyone could stop her, grabbed her coat and Apparated to the Hogsmeade street.

"HARRY!"

"What, Hermione? She's right! It took me long enough to tell you and Ron, let alone Fred, George and Ginny!"

"And we thank you, mate. For telling us."

"Perhaps one day we can tell Mira - "

"She could help locate some, she _is_ a detective."

Harry stood up, "Not yet! Yes, I like her. Yes, she seems trustworthy, but _please_ give me time?"

Everyone nodded, knowing full well Harry would not relent. Harry, with the help of Ginny, Hermione and Ron told the twins of their progress with the Horcruxes. Then Fred and George informed the four of their mission and all the cool gadgets and tricks Mira had.

They were impressed and Harry knew then that _someday_ he'd be able to tell Mira.

George found Mira at the Three Broomsticks sipping a butterbeer and reading. "Hey there."

"Hey you." She smiled, "You guys done?"

George nodded, "The children are leaving soon. Come say goodbye?"

"Sure." They left the pub, but before Mira could Apparate, George grabbed her wrist lightly, "You're okay right?"  
smiled, touched for George's concern over something so trivial, "It's Harry Potter. I just met him and he doesn't trust me enough to tell me his deepest, darkest secrets. It's okay, really."

George searched her eyes for a second, "As long as you're sure."

"I'm sure." She got her wand to Apparate, "But thanks for checking," and they both were gone with a loud _CRACK!_.

They were met with Fred and Hermione snogging in the front entrance. "Merlin!"

They pulled apart slowly, ignoring George's outburst. "See you this weekend?"

"Quidditch Game?"

"Quidditch Game."

Hermione gave Mira a hug, "Sorrya bout Harry. I'm sure he'll come around."

Mira smiled, "It's okay, Hermione. Seriously. I don't mind."

Ginny and Mira hugged goodbye as the twins shook hands with Harry and Ron, "Until the Quidditch Game, lads."

Mira nodded and smiled at the two, Harry glancing longer than necessary. As Ginny and Ron walked out and Fred and Hermione shared one last kiss, Harry said softly to Mira, "I'm really sorry you know."

Mira nodded, "I understand. But, I just want you to know that when everyone thought you were looney for saying Voldemort was back, I believed you."

Harry was caught by surprise, "Really?"

"Yea. I knew Dumbledore trusted you, and I trusted Dumbledore."

Harry smiled, "Thanks, Mira," and before really thinking, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "I want to help, you know."

Harry nodded as she let go, "I know."

Mira looked between the twins after the others left the flat. "Well, I'm exhausted."

"Aye," Fred nodded, somewhat dejectedly.

"What are _you _so depressed about?"

"I won't see her for a week."

"But at least you guys finally snogged!"

Fred smiled, "True," he looked giddy when he said, "I'm going to take a nap and eat dinner later."

"Sounds good, brother."

Fred skipped, ("Is he skipping?") to his room which left George and Mira alone. "So Miss Dean."

Mira smiled and took his hand, "Mr. Weasley?"

"There's something I need your opinion on."

She moved closer to him, her hands now tracing shapes on his shoulders, "All right."

"You see, my girlfriend had wanted to change into something sexy yesterday and - " she put a finger to his lips and motioned with the other so he'd follow her. She swayed her hips ever so slightly which drove him mad.

She had no idea what had come over her: she had never been this assertive with any other guys. She had never been comfortable taking off her clothes in front of anyone, but for some reason, she wanted to for George...

They reached George's room, and Mira pointed to the bed. George sat down on the edge. "Close your eyes _no_ peeking."

"Yes, ma'am." He heard the drapes close shut and the door lock. He could hear her slipping off her clothes but didn't dare open his eyes until he was instructed to do so.

"George," she whispered and he felt her body so close to his, "open your eyes."

And he did. And he looked her up and down admiring everything about her. She shivered slightly under his intense stare. "Beautiful," he whispered and stood up to kiss her.

"Gorgeous," he whispered when he moved from her lips to her neck. She arched it slightly so had better access as she tried to unbutton his trousers.

"Lovely." He kissed her collar bone and when she moaned slightly as his thumb slid under the band of her panties, he turned them around and gently laid her down on the bed.

He stared into her eyes which were almost completely grey now. "Beautiful," he kissed her again. Only this time with more passion.

When they broke apart she began to pull off his shirt and tried to unbutton his pants. She finally got his trousers unbuttoned and down to his ankles when she felt his hot mouth on her stomach and getting ever so close to her hot center.

She looked down and saw him grinning back up at her, kicking his trousers off, "Mind getting my boxers?"

She smiled seductively and edged her way down the bed slightly to reach his boxers and as she slid them off, she made sure to ever so lightly caress his throbbing member. He bit back a moan, his eyes shut as Mira, smirking moved her body against it as she made her way back up to her original position on the bed.

"You asked for it," he murmured as she watched his head disappear. But she knew where he went because she could feel his lips on her - _oh._ That was _oh._ Unexpected.

"Oh! _George!"_

George grinned as he swirled his tongue around again, and when she writhed slightly sucked on the inside of her thigh. Suddenly her hands were massaging his scalp and pulling his head towards her own. "Merlin, George, please, now."

"But that was so-"

"_Now!_"

He didn't need to be told twice.

He was swiftly inside of her, thrusting and pumping as hard as he had yesterday, and when her walls enclosed tightly around his member, he couldn't help but release his seed grunting her name, his body convulsing under the waves of ecstasy he was feeling, as she soon followed him in her orgasm, yelling his name.

They collapsed together and without saying a word, pulled up the blankets and cuddled together. Mira's eyes were closing, but George kissed her softly, "Beautiful," he whispered and she smiled.

"You're not so bad yourself."

George smiled, "I meant it when I say that you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."

Mira's eyes opened wide, "Don't lie."

He smiled, "I mean it."

Mira pushed him flat on the bed and straddled him kissing him hard, her bum rubbing slightly against his already hard member. "Mira," he croaked out, "please, you're killing me."

"Then we'll have to fix that won't me?"

----------------

A/N: Did ya really need two sex scenes in one chapter? Geeez. I don't do so well with sex scenes anyway (well writing them, that is). REVIEW!


	11. Snakes on a Ministry Man?

Mira left Hogsmeade Sunday morning to check on their bugs' progress. She promised to visit the shop Monday morning before going to her shift at St. Mungo's.

She arrived at her office and knocked on her dad's door.

"Come in!"

"Mornin'."

"Oh! How was your weekend?" He looked at his watch, "Is everything okay?"

Mira cocked an eyebrow, "Why?"

"Well because it's Sunday morning and you're back."

Mira smiled, "Everything's fine. I have things to do."

Thomas smiled back, "Too much work and not enough fun..."

"Dad. Trust me, these Weasley twins and their friends? All fun. I promise you."

"So how was your weekend?"

"Good. Just going to check on our cases. Need any help with yours?"

Thomas looked through some files, "Want to make some phone calls?"

"Love to." She walked over to her office, and slipping off her wool coat, checked her laptop. "Nothing," she mumbled to herself as she searched the files. She prodded her owl, Rush, awake and tied a piece of parchment that said 'Nothing' on. "Give it to Fred and George. Don't wait for a day."

She opened the window for Rush and then picked up the phone.

---------

Mira had spent the entire day at the office, helping her Dad with this cases and brainstorming on the Order's. It was 8pm by the time she arrived back at her flat, exhausted. So tired, in fact that she didn't notice the lights were on and there were sumptuous smells wafting in from her kitchen. She'd gone straight to her room to change. She didn't bother with a shower, and was slipping on sweats and a hooded sweatshirt on over her pajamas when she heard her door click open.

She spun around so fast, she forgot to pick up her wand. "Don't hex!"

"George! Merlin! You scared the fucking shit out of me!"

"Sorry, love." He kissed her on the lips, "Made you dinner."

Mira playfully pouted her lips, "I'm so tired!" and to add for emphasis, she collapsed on the bed, her hand on her forehead in a very Scarlett O'Hara fashion. She smirked slightly, "You kept me up an awful lot."

"Naughty," he chided, "I know you're tired, but we can eat on the couch and watch that bloody Muggle contraption."

"Then straight to bed?"

"Course, come on." She pouted her lips again and George, laughing, lifted her up bridal-style and carried her to the couch moaning and groaning all the way.

"George!" she laughed and began squirming, "Stop fussing! I don't weigh that much!"

George started to breath heavily, "Whew! Where do you hide it all?"

She smacked him up side the head. "Hey now!"

George plopped her down on the couch, "I was just pretending," he said, as a small child would say to their mom after being reprimanded.

Mira patted him on the head, "S'alright. Now, where's dinner? Smells delicious?"

George waved his wand, and handed Mira her plate of penne vodka and a glass of red wine while she switched on the BBC News.

"Why do you watch Muggle News?"

"To keep in touch with the Muggle world, look for abnormalities."

"Abnormalities?"

"Yea, to see which catastrophes were Voldemort's."

George shuddered, "How can you _say_ his name?"

"It's just a name, George. Words don't instill fear. Actions instill fear."

"But still, how can you say his name?"

"Because I know he's a hypocrite."

"What?"

Mira swallowed her sip of red wine, "He's half Muggle, just like me. Just like Snape. Just like Harry."

George stared at her for a moment while she went back to eating and watching the BBC. "This is really good, George."

George shook his head and nodded, slightly distracted, "Thanks."

"Where's Fred?"

"Back at the Diagon flat, sulking that he won't see Hermione till Saturday."

He didn't eat for a few moments, but continued to stare at his girlfriend, his head cocked ever so slightly to the side. She looked up, "What?"

"You're just...so brave."

"Well, you have to be, I suppose."

George nodded, "Perhaps, but how are you so fearless?"

She put down her plate, "I'm not fearless, George. And I'm really not brave. I do get scared."

"Yea? When?"

"When we went to Unforgivable? I was terrified."

"You didn't seem..."

"I'm a detective, I have to be a good actor."

"But-"

"George. I do get scared. I'm afraid of dying. Being tortured. But I try not to think about it and then it doesn't terrify me."

George nodded in understanding and wrapped his arms around her, holding her. "But you _are_ brave, Mira. For admitting that. For joining the Order, for taking a stand against the Death Eaters. You _are_ brave."

Mira smiled into his chest, "You are too, ya know."

George sighed playfully, "Well, I don't mean to brag, but I was put into Gryffindor."

Mira laughed, "I'm almost done. You staying here?"

George nodded, "Yea, I'll just clean up here."

"K. Thanks again for the lovely dinner." She kissed him chastely before walking into her bathroom to brush her teeth and throw her hair in a messy bun. She heard him jump on her bed a few minutes later. He was wearing a t-shirt and boxers and said to her when she walked in, "You sleeping in that?"

She yawned and shook her head no as she slipped off her sweats. She crawled onto the bed in her t-shirt and boxers and collapsed.

"You _are_ exhausted!" George laughed and pulled the blankets over top of them before kissing her head and wrapping his right arm and leg over her. "Night, love."

"Night."

------------

Mira blinked her eyes open and when she saw the sun peeking through her blinds, she mumbled, "Bloody sun," and buried her head in George's chest.

But she couldn't fall back asleep, so she instead attempted to untangle herself from George and make breakfast. It took longer than she thought to untangle herself: their legs were intertwined and every time she tried to move, George would seem as if he were about to wake up.

Mira eventually discovered that George was not a light sleeper: she had accidentally elbowed his (hard as rock) stomach and he hadn't reacted. So she untangled their legs and pried his arms from his viselike grip around her waist and quietly went to the kitchen to start cooking.

She heard him pad into the kitchen yawning, "Are those pancakes?"

Mira nodded and set his plate on the table, "So food wakes you up, eh?" George grinned and started eating his pancakes.

"Coming into the shop this morning?"

"Yea, I have a shift at noon and then another at midnight."

"Merlin! How long are the shifts?"

"Noon till 6 and then midnight till 5. I'm making up for this weekend."

"And next."

Mira smiled, "No, they know I don't work Saturdays. So I'll be working Friday morning and Sunday nights from now on."

George nodded, "That's not bad." He shoved another forkful of pancake into his mouth when he remembered something.

"Chew, dear," Mira said, laughing.

"Fred and I are having drinks, Tuesday night with some old friends! You should come!"

Mira nodded, "K, sure. Who's going?"

"Me, Fred, Lee's taking Verity probably, Oliver, probably some of his Quidditch friends, maybe Katie and Alicia."

Mira nodded again, "Sounds fun!" She picked up her plate and put it in the sink, "I'm going to go shower."

"Wait," George shoved his last forkful in his mouth and put his own plate in the sink, "I'll help." He wriggled his eyebrows and Mira laughed as George sauntered over to her jokingly and kissed her. "Mmm...maple syrup."

Mira slapped his arm, "George!", but he picked her up and carried her to the bathroom, "You must stop carrying me places, I can walk you know."

George shook his head, "But it's much more fun to pretend you're helpless." Mira rolled her eyes and allowed him to place her in the shower, and before she could stop him, he turned on the water.

"GEORGE WEASLEY!"

George couldn't help but laugh at the scene in front of him: Mira infuriated, soaking wet and gorgeous. "Nice look, love!"

Mira grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him into the shower stall, pulling the curtain shut. "If I'm going to get wet, so are you." She pushed him lightly under the stream of water and started taking off her wet clothes so she could actually shower.

"Hey, hey. At least let me help you take off your wet clothes, miss?" He delicately pulled her shirt over her head and pulled her shorts and knickers off, "That's more like it."

Mira smiled and wrapping her arms around his neck, kissed him deeply. "Mmm...maple syrup."

George laughed and backed up against the wall so that Mira was now in the stream of water, "I like you wet."

Mira laughed and pulled away from the wall so she could take his own clothes off. When her fingers grazed his stomach, right above the waist band of his boxers, George pushed Mira up against the opposite wall and pinned her arms above her head.

"Oh, Geor-" but she was cut off by his lips on hers, kissing hungrily. He took his free hand and started massaging her breast. She started to write slightly, wanting to use her hands, but he pulled his lips away and whispered, "No, no, don't try to fight me." Mira attacked his neck with her lips since he was just within reach and George bit back a groan. "Merlin, Mira." Mira smiled and sucked lightly on his pulse point.

George let go of her wrists and Mira's hands automatically went to his boxers which she pulled down so George could step out of them, and she lightly grasped George's already hard member with one hand while she used the other to guide George to the other wall. Once his back was once again against the wall, Mira cocked an eyebrow and ever so slowly, started kissing George's chest, stomach and finally the end of his cock. George whispered in a throaty voice, "Mira, please," and without hesitation, she began swirling her tongue along the tip before taking him in her mouth.

Right before George was about to release, she pulled away and George said, his eyes half-open, his voice rough, "You tease..." and before she could retort, he pushed her up against the wall, grabbing her arse and pulling her legs up and around his waist. Mira's eyes were wide open and when George adjusted their position and entered her, she cried out in pleasure and pain.

George waited a second, looking into her eyes, "Ready?"

She nodded and when he started to move, the water now pounding lightly on George's back, she moaned with pleasure, "Oh, George!" With each thrust, her back crashed into the wall, and she moaned with each and every thrust until they both released at the same time, crying out each other's names and riding their release before George finally set her down.

She pulled him in for a long kiss before either could say a word. "That was..."

"Fantastic."

"Brilliant."

"I'd never done it standing up."

"Neither have I."

"We need to shower together more often," George kissed her again while reaching for the bar of soap with the other and lathering her entire body with soap. Mira did the same to him, and then grabbing the shampoo, George started to massage her scalp. "Merlin, George, that feels amazing." She bit her lip in an attempt to keep back her moan, but George let his one hand travel down and to her surprise, slipped one finger inside her. She gasped and when he slipped another, she rubbed her arse slightly against George's front side. He slipped in another finger and she moaned. The combination of her scalp being massaged as well as her insides was almost too much for Mira, and soon her whole body wracked with an orgasm, as she reached around her and grabbed onto George's neck, trying to hold herself up. George slipped his fingers out and turned around to kiss her hungrily again. He pulled away and whispered, "That was so hot."

Mira nodded, "It was wonderful." She pushed him lightly and ordered, "On your knees?"

George looked at her puzzled, but did as he was told, and closed his eyes when he felt Mira massaging his scalp with her fresh-smelling shampoo. "Merlin, that does feel good." Mira smirked to herself and taking away her one hand, reached around his stomach grabbed his member, running one finger up and down his length, which caused him to shiver slightly, and soon she was rubbing his hard member in sync with massaging his scalp, and soon enough George released, his body wracking slightly. She pulled him up and he grinned, "Thanks."

Mira smirked, "My pleasure," she kissed him, "now can we really shower so we can start our day?"

George frowned, "Do we have to?"

Mira smiled, "Yes. She pushed him in front of the water stream and allowed him to rinse his hair before he moved so she could do the same.

A few minutes later, after towel-fights and more kissing, the two were back in Mira's room, putting on clean clothes and robes. "Brought clean things I see?"

George smiled, "I knew I was going to be staying the night."

Mira laughed, "Nice planning."

-------------

Mira and George walked into WWW at 8:30, half an hour before opening. "Oi, Fred!"

"Oi, what?"

"Where are ya?"

"Round the back!"

George and Mira walked to the back where the lab and twins' desks were. "Where's Verity?"

"Gave her the day off."

"Oh, good."

"Mira's coming for drinks tomorrow."

"Wonderful! It's going to be fun, Mira!"

"Always good to have another sane person to shut Ollie up about Quidditch."

"The bloke never stops!"

"But we love him anyway. Crazy prat."

Mira laughed, "Thanks, I guess."

"You staying here today?"

"No I've got a shift at noon. But I was hoping we could talk about the mission."

"Right. Door locked, Georgie?"

"Locked, Freddie."

"Right..." Mira slipped off her coat and sat down on an empty chair, "So our bar bugs are giving us nothing."

"Are they picking up conversations?"

"Yea, but either no one knows anything about Malfoy and Snape, or no one's daring to say anything."

"So what do we do now?"

"Got any ideas, boys?"

The trio sat in silence, until Fred spoke up, "Well, the Ministry is doing a search, minimal at best, to help capture Dumbledore's murderer."

"Aurors?"

"Yea, so maybe next meeting we can talk to Kingsley or Tonks or Moody."

"Hm, maybe not Moody."

"Agreed!" Mira continued, "So next meeting is when?"

"Thursday."

"Brilliant. We'll talk to them then, and for now we'll keep our ears open for any snippets from the bugs, or the streets. And I'll see if I hear anything at the Hospital."

Mira stayed at the shop, helping out with purchases and chatting with the twins until 11:30 when she had to walk over to St. Mungo's for her shift.

"Healer Dean!"

"Yes!" Mira was just walking in the main door, adjusting her white coat when the nurse had grabbed her sleeve and continued to walk.

"Room 323! A Ministry man, we think he's been poisoned since there are no signs of an attack and he's showing random symptoms."

Mira nodded, "What tests?"

"All magical plants and creature venom."

Mira nodded and walked off to Room 323, "Thank you, Nurse Betty!" The room was filled with different machines and 3 nurses playing around with them. Mira picked up the patient's chart, "I need tests run for any Muggle poison that is accessible in Europe."

The nurses stopped and looked at Mira, their faces blank. Mira sighed and said to herself, 'Mira, this is a Magical Hospital, not some Muggle television show.' "Right, give me a pint of blood - with the plasma - and a urine sample."

Mira pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed a number, "Marty. Want to do me another favor?"

-------------

At 4 o'clock, once all the tests came back from the Muggle lab, Mira went to talk to her supervisor, "Healer Briggs!"

"Yes, Mira?" The tall man stopped walking and turned around slowly, "Everything all right?"

Mira let out a breath and handed him the test results, "No."

He glanced at the file, "I don't recognize any of this."

"Mr. Vail, a very public and prolific Ministry man was poisoned with a combination of an exotic snake venom and an illegal Muggle chemical."

Briggs's head snapped up, "Poisoned?" He looked at her skeptically, "If it's a _Muggle_ chemical, and an exotic snake venom, how did you test for it and ultimately discover this?"

"I used to work at a small Muggle laboratory and are still always willing to do me favors since I help out sometimes on Holiday." She looked Healer Briggs straight in the eye to show she wasn't lying. But she was - partly. She and her father did some detective work for the lab and its owner. The owner's grandson was a wizard a few years younger than Mira, and Mira had helped his grandson get over a nasty cold only a few weeks ago when she was still in training. Marty was always willing to do Mira favors.

"Well, is there a remedy?"

Mira shook her head, "We don't have the anti-venom and it would takes weeks to find it and get it here. And there's no cure for the Muggle chemical."

"How long has Mr. Vail got to live?"

Mira shrugged, "A few hours tops."

"He's been poisoned with the chemical for weeks and it seems the venom just last night."

"Tell him and his family."

Mira nodded, but when Healer Briggs turned around to walk away, Mira grabbed his coat sleeve. He looked down at his arm and back up at Mira, raising an eyebrow. "Shouldn't we try to figure out who was poisoning him?"

"Mira, we're doctors. Not Aurors."

-------------------

Mira stepped into the shop at 6pm, and not seeing either Weasley twin, shouted, "Oi!"

Fred and George skidded to a halt in front of Mira, "Merlin, what is it?"

"Lock the store, we need to go see McGonagall."

Fred's eyebrows almost disappeared into his hair, "Why?"

"In the backroom, now."

"Mira! What is going on?" George asked her once the store was locked and the trio were in the backroom.

"Do you know Henry Vail?"

Fred nodded, "Yea, Dad's talked about him. Works at the Ministry. But what has that got to do-"

"He's dying."

"What?"

"He's been poisoned and I think it was a Death Eater doing it."

"Mira, Mira, how do you know this?"

"George, he's a high-profile Ministry man. He's the Minister's right-hand man. He supports Muggles, wants to pass a law that forces all Purebloods to marry Muggle witches and wizards or half wizards and witches."

George nodded, "Okay, but how do you know he was being poisoned?"

She wiped a folder out of her pocket. "These tests results show that Henry was being poisoned with Dioxin, a Muggle chemical and an exotic snake venom."

The twins' eyes grew large as they read the report that Mira had written up about the case. "How did you find out it was this Dixib?"

"Dioxin. I had a friend at a Muggle lab run some tests."

"A favor?"

Mira nodded, "And we need to show this to McGonagall directly."

"Why not show Dad?"

"Because he works at the Ministry, and the last thing we need is for him to get involved too soon. And besides, it's more likely that McGonagall will believe us, and then she can direct the Order with the next step."

The twins nodded. "Alright, when do we leave?"

"I've already written a short note saying we'd be in her office in," she looked at her watch, "15 minutes. And I've brought my Invisibility Cloak. So we can Apparate to your flat and walk to Hogwarts."

The twins nodded, "Zonko's route?"

Mira looked confused, "Zonko's?"

But a mere few minutes later, Mira understood what the twins meant. She had protested about going into Zonko's, "Aren't you rivals? What do you want from in here?", but she was quieted when George put a silence charm on her. They were underneath the cloak, and had walked in and through the trapdoor undetected.

Once they were a good distance down the tunnel, George took off the spell, "Fred and I found this back in second year by accident. We'll be inside Hogwarts in a few minutes." Mira nodded, and the three walked in silence, their wands lit.

"Should we all go see McGonagall?"

Mira glanced sideways at Fred and said nonchalantly, "I already owled Hermione and told her to meet us at the bottom of the staircase since she knows the password and we don't."

Fred grinned and looked at her, "Thanks."

Mira shrugged, "No problem."

George put an arm over her shoulder, "So thoughtful, you are."

"And don't you forget it."

The arrived at the end and threw the cloak back over them before Fred pushed gently on the wall and then on the tapestry. They walked silently to the bottom of the Headmistress's stairs where they saw Hermione fidgeting and fussing with her hair. They came up next to her, still invisible, and Mira whispered, "Hermione!"

Hermione spun around frantically, and almost yelped in fright when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She calmed down however when she saw it was Fred. "Merlin! Don't ever do that again!" She kissed Fred lightly in greeting. "You've got a cloak too?"

Mira nodded. "Password?"

"Catnip." Mira looked at her friend, "Don't ask me, that's what it is."

The giant stone bird started to turn and Mira and George hopped on the bottom step. "We'll be back soon, go hide in a broom cupboard or something so no one sees you, Fred."

George rolled his eyes and wrapped his arm around her waist, "Giving them permission to go snog?"

Mira rolled her eyes, "And so no one would see them."

He kissed her cheek lightly and said, "Of course." Once the steps had stopped moving, he let go of her waist and gave her hand a squeeze before letting go when she knocked on the door.

"Come in."

"Professor."

"Miss Dean, Mr. Weasley. To what do I owe the occasion?"

Mira pulled out the folder and put it on the Headmistress' desk before sitting in the chair next to George's, not saying anything until her former professor had finished reading the report.

McGonagall looked up a moment later with a slightly horrified look on her face, "And you think Death Eaters did this?"

"Yes, I do. Mr. Vail was a high-profile Ministry man, and none of the Death Eater's probably liked his policies."

The Headmistress nodded, "And you're worried that now they have Muggle means of slowly killing someone without being detected."

Mira nodded, "Precisely. The only reason this was discovered was because I was assigned to the room and I know a fellow who owns a Muggle testing laboratory."

Professor McGonagall nodded gravely, "I'll have to inform Tonks of our plan so she can tell the rest of the Order..." She took out a quill and jotted down a quick note.

"Um, Professor?"

"Yes, Miss Dean?"

"I'm afraid that perhaps some of the students might be potential victims."

George looked at Mira, "But Death Eaters can't come waltzing into Hogwarts!"

"But these poisons can come through the school by a student."

McGonagall put her quill down and looked at Mira, staring into her eyes, and Mira noticed that her former professor's face was filled with more wrinkles than she had remembered. Thankfully, however, the fire in McGongall's eyes hadn't seem to be dampened. "And how will this poison be distributed?"

"The House Elves can be easily persuaded, it would only take some convincing or threatening to get a House Elf to sprinkle a drop or two into someone's food."

"And should we stop this?"

Mira swallowed, "It's not 100 effective, but it's better than nothing." She pulled out a piece of paper that had a spell written on it. "It's a spell that was invented by a wizard decades ago when his sister inhaled asbestos. If you say this spell," she pulled out a vial, "and put a drop of this on ever plate, goblet and utensil, no chemical, venom or any other kind of poison could last longer than 10 seconds. And it can't be washed off the plate."

McGonagall nodded, "Impressive, Miss Dean. But how should the rest of the Magical community be protected."

Mira shrugged, "There's going to be an article in tomorrow's Daily Prophet."

McGonagall nodded, "So hopefully everyone will be more careful."

"And St. Mungo's is going to send any odd case to me so I can send tests to the Muggle lab."

She nodded again and stood, "Thank you for informing me, Mira. Hopefully this situation will be dealt with quickly so it can be one less thing we should worry about. Purebloods getting their hands on Muggle chemicals can not be a good thing."

Mira and George nodded, "Thanks, Minnie."

She rolled her eyes, "Unfortunately I can't give you a detention for that utterance," but George noticed that her upper lip was twitching, "You're welcome to stay for dinner."

Mira shook her head, "Thanks, but we don't want the students talking."

"And we'll be here for Saturday's match anyway."

Minerva nodded and smiled, "And a good one it will be. Thanks again for coming all the way to inform me."

The pair nodded and walked out of the office and back onto the moving stairs. They walked around the bird, and getting underneath the cloak, walked to the closest broom closet and knocked loudly.

"Fred! Hermione! Snogging time over!"

-------------

By the time Fred, George and Hermione arrived back at the Hogsmeade flat, it was 9 o'clock. "Well, boys, it's been fun, but I need to go take a quick nap before my next shift."

Fred gave her a hug, "Thanks again for owling Mione. And don't worry so much about this Muggle poisoning thing."

Mira nodded, somewhat unconvincingly, "See you tomorrow, Fred."

Fred walked over to the kitchen and George kissed her lightly and rubbed her cheek with his thumb, "The Order will find out how they're getting these poisons and everything will be fine." She nodded and kissed him. "What time are your shifts tomorrow?"

"1-4."

He kissed her again, "All right, go get some rest and I'll see you later, okay?"

Mira Apparated to her flat, and was able to get a few hours of sleep before having to wake up again and do a refreshing charm on her clothes and pour herself two cups of coffee.

She walked into St. Mungo's and accidentally ran into Charlie. "Mira! Didja read the Prophet?"

Mira frowned, "It's out already?" and grabbed the paper from Charlie's hands.

"George! Look!" Fred plopped down on the sofa and shoved the paper into his twin's hands.

"Merlin! What's an edition of the Prophet doing out at 11:30 at night?"

"Look at the headline!"

Hermione got up off the couch, "Am I the _only_ one who hears that incessant tapping?" She opened the Common Room window and let in the owl who dropped what seemed to be a newspaper, "The Daily Prophet?" She gave the owl a knut, her eyes never leaving the paper."

"Muggle Chemical and Exotic Snake Venom Kill Prominent Ministry Man," George read, "Merlin, I hope Mira's name isn't mentioned."

"Charlie, are these already being distributed?"

"Harry! Ron! Look!" She sat down on a chair next to their game of Wizard's Chess, "Mr. Henry Vail, a supporter of the Marriage Law-"

"-was admitted to St. Mungo's this morning and was pronounced dead at 8pm."

"Healers say he was poisoned with an illegal Muggle chemical called Dioxin."

"But how could-"

"Ron! Let me finish!"

"And an unknown exotic snake venom. Healers at St. Mungo's would not disclose how they-"

"-discovered he was being poisoned by a Muggle chemical, but this reporter-"

"-knows that no Magical test could have deduced this diagnosis. Charlie? How would Katie Walters know that?"

"Don't know."

"A Healer, who wished to remain anonymous, did, however, say that St. Mungo's had ways of testing for Muggle chemicals, venoms and plants-"

"I bet that was Mira!"

"How do you know?"

"That's what she came to tell McGonagall! And look-"

"-and continues that St. Mungo's and the rest of the Magical Community would not be deterred by poisoning."

"What else does it say, George?"

"Just about how any one who thinks they're being poisoned should report to St. Mungo's-"

"-and about his family and politics."

"I bet Death Eaters did this."

"But Harry, how could they get their wands on Muggle chemicals?"

"Snape maybe. I'm sure they have ways. But it's brilliant, isn't it? Use devices from the type of person you hate."

-------------

Mira unlocked her front door at 5am and stepped into her dark flat. She threw off her hat and scarf and trudged to her bedroom where she immediately started to take off her clothes. It was when she was putting on her pajamas that she noticed George was asleep in her bed. She couldn't help but smile, and shivering crawled under the blankets next to him, wrapping her arms around his waist and nestling her head in the crook of his neck and immediately fell asleep.

George woke up from his slumber a few hours later, and smiling, kissed the top of Mira's head. And without wanting to wake her, skillfully pried himself away from her and quietly changed into his work robes. He walked out to the kitchen and wrote on a piece of paper:

Mira-

Didn't want to wake you. Come round the shop before or after your shift. Drinks are at 8 but you, me and Fred can grab dinner before. Hope I didn't scare you when you got in before. Saw the article.

-George

He picked up his wand and Apparated to the shop to be greeted by Verity, "Morning, Mr. Weasley."

"Verity, dear, how are you?"

"Fine, thanks. When can I see the new shop?"

"If Fred's here we could go right now."

Mira's eyes fluttered open and she groaned. She rolled over and tried to fall asleep, but noticed sadly that George wasn't there. She sat up and scoffed at herself - they'd only been officially dating for a few days and she was already missing him every two seconds. She stood up and laughed - she was becoming such a cliché. Thinking so much about her relationship and getting so mad about how she was acting like "such a girl". She shook her head and said out loud, "Maybe Ron was right - maybe I _am_ mental."

She got herself a bowl of cereal and read that _morning's_ edition of the Prophet which made no mention of Mr. Vail's case. She was annoyed that already the Magical Community might forget about his horrid death, but also relieved because now it was more unlikely that anyone would try to find out which Healer was on his case. The last thing she needed was for some Death Eater to track her down and find out how she tested for Muggle poisonings before disposing of her.

She finished her cereal and started the shower knowing that she'd have to shower again after her shift. She looked at her wall clock, and laughed. 6 hours of sleep and she''d by up late tonight drinking.

Mira did a charm to dry her hair and put on her worn-in jeans and a comfortable sweater before shoving her white coat in her bag. She figured she'd go see George before heading over to St. Mungo's.

She walked into the shop and introduced herself, "You must be Verity! George and Fred speak so highly of you!"

Verity smiled and took Mira's out stretched hand. "You must be Mira! They won't ever stop talking about you. You're coming out with us tonight, right?"

"Yea," she paused, "you'll probably know better than George, but what kind of bar is it?"

"Ah, it's almost a club - but everyone wears Muggle clothing."

Mira laughed, "Thanks! George made it seem like it was Three Broomsticks."

Now Verity laughed, "Men, eh?"

"You two met then?"

Mira turned around and gave George a chaste kiss which made him playfully pout. "Yea, we did."

"Mira, I want to show you something, come on." He took his girlfriend's hand and started to tug like a small child.

"All right! Nice meeting you, Verity! See you tonight!"

"Bye, Mira!"

Mira laughed as George dragged her out of the main show room and towards a door she'd never seen before. "George, where are we-" but she never got to finish because suddenly they were on the other side of the door and it was dark. "George-"

"Shh..." she could feel him move his body right up against hers and could feel his hot breath on her cheek. She gasped softly when he kissed the hollow under her left ear. And then down her neck to her collarbone. He stopped suddenly Dan she whined softly, but it was cut off when he pressed his lips against hers passionately. She parted her lips and arched her back up and away from the wall and moaned into his mouth which caused him to moan. They pulled apart for a second, both needing air, but it didn't last long because soon Mira's fingers were grazing across George's stomach, right above the waist of his pants. She was kissing and sucking on his neck now ever so lightly that it made him shiver and when he couldn't control it, pressed her up against the wall again and stared into her eyes for a second before kissing her again.

They pulled apart what seemed like decades later and George rested his forehead against hers, "Do you have to go?"

Mira smiled, "Come on, you know I wish I didn't have to."

George grinned, "What time should we pick up for dinner?"

"7?"

George nodded and kissed her again and when she started to walk away, tapped her lightly on the ass, "Go save some lives."

-----------------------

A/N: Well. This was monumentally long. 16 pages. WHAT NOW! That's right, 16 pages and no one's reallllly reading this considering I've gotten ONE REVIEW for the last chapter. And thank you, KnifeThrowaStarr for your review, I really really appreciate it! But I'm off to start my first semester, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to update again next. So, in the meantime, REVIEW! Thanks.

-Tate Dean.


	12. Dancing Queen

"Shit!" she yelled as she looked at her clock and yanked her dark green halter on. It was already 6:45 and she still had to get shoes, and put on her make-up. She threw open her closet doors and searched wildly for a pair of heels.

"Merlin, I hate heels," she muttered as she took off the pair of gold 4-inch heels she tried on, "why do I even own these?" She found a pair of black strappy 2-inch heels, satisfied that she wouldn't be ridiculed for not wearing heels, but also knowing she'd be able to walk.

Pulling out her make-up bag, she looked at her hair, satisfied that it was straight and shiny. She quickly applied neutral eyeshadow since her eyes were a brighter green than normal because of the shirt, and mascara and a quick swipe of black eyeliner.

No sooner did she put down her liner than did the doorbell ring. "Coming!" she shouted and grabbed her clutch and black peacoat before opening the door.

She leaned in to kiss George, but he held his hand out, "Can't I see you first?" and she felt his eyes travel up and down her body. He started to smirk and taking a step closer asked, "And all this is mine?"

She leaned her head back and smiled, "Not if you act like that…" she laughed as he started to pout and leaned in again to kiss him. "Where's Fred?"

"You thinking about my brother when kissing me?"

She hit his arm and closed her door as they walked down the corridor, hand-in-hand. "'Lo, Fred."

"Hey, we ready? I'm starved."

The trio walked out of Mira's apartment building and on to the streets of Muggle London. "Where we going?"

"Just a small café to get a sandwich."

They ordered their meals and ate in relative silence, happy to be together and not at work or on a mission. Mira broke this silence once she had finished scarfing down her sandwich, "So how far away is this place?"

"A hop, skip and a jump, midear."

Mira shivered slightly in her pea coat as she and the twins left the cafe and

began their "2 minutes stroll" to the club, which they could hear before

they saw it.

"Good, we got here before the massive line." Mira followed George up to

the bouncer and flashed him a smile as he waved her through without even asking

for her ID.

"If only we had va-jay-jays, George m'boy."

Mira bit back a laugh, "That's the last time I let you watch my "Grey's

Anatomy" DVDs."

George pouted as Fred kept walking into the club, having seen Verity and Lee

Jordan sitting at a round table. When they got closer, Mira noticed another man

sitting at the table looking over at the dance floor and drinking from a

thick glass mug. Mira gave Verity a hug and before she even began to unbutton

her coat, Fred introduced her to Lee.

George took her coat off and hung on it on the back of her chair as he

prodded the other man at their table. Mira was sitting down when the man grunted,

startling her. She looked up and watched as he turned around and seeing

George, stood and gave him what Mira could only describe as a manly hug. He then

did the same thing to Fred who shouted, "Ollie! It's been too long!"

Mira smiled slightly to herself, realizing this was the infamous Oliver Wood

that the twins talked about frequently.

"Mira, this is Oliver Wood, Ollie, this is Mira Dean." Mira stretched out

her hand for him to shake, but instead, he took her hand and kissed it as his

deep brown eyes bore into her own. She was caught slightly off guard, but

kept her cool, even as the skin on her hand that his lips had touched tingled.

"Nice to finally meet the man that Fred and George talk so much about."

"Funny," Oliver looked at the twins, "they hardly mention ya."

"That's because we only just met her a few weeks ago, Ollie."

"Are Alicia and Katie coming?"

"Aye. They're on the dance floor already." Oliver looked down at his

empty mug, "You boys want anything?"

"The usual, Ollie."

He stood and stared down at Mira, "Any for ya, Miss Dean?"

She smiled, "I'll just have a beer, please Mr. Wood."

"Just a beer? That's mighty boring," he smirked slightly.

Mira smiled, "Fine, I'll have a beer later. I'll have a Long Island Ice

Tea now."

Oliver nodded and smiled, "Something more exciting."

He walked over to the bar and Mira watched him briefly, impressed by the way his pale blue polo fit across his obvious chest and arm muscles, all thanks to that wonderful sport, Quidditch. George leaned over and whispered into her ear, "You going to get drunk and dance dirtily with me?"

Mira grinned and whispered back, "Maybe I'll get so drunk I'll dance dirtily

with every other guy here too."

George pouted, "Not funny, Mira."

Oliver came back to the table and handed two small glasses to Fred and George

before setting Mira's glass down. Just as he was about to sit down, two

girls came walking over to the table, and Fred and George jumped up to say hello

to whom Mira could only presume was Alicia and Katie.

George took a step back to stand next to Mira and introduced the two girls to her before the twins sat down next to the girls who were breathless from dancing.

The four became engrossed in conversation; Lee and Verity were too busy

ogling each other to pay any attention.

Mira sighed but jumped slightly when Oliver, who sat down next to her

whispered, "Guess that just leaves us then."

"Guess so." She took a large gulp of her drink and shuddered slightly from

the amount of alcohol that was in it, "I always forget how strong these

things are."

Oliver let out a hearty laugh that seemed to reverberate around Mira. "So,

Miss Dean, what do you do for a living?"

"I'm a Healer."

He cocked an eyebrow, a motion that Mira thought to be extremely sexy. "Already licensed?"

"Just last week."

Oliver's interest was piqued and leaned closer to her, "When did you

graduate from Hogwarts?"

"This past year."

"And you're already a licensed Healer?" He took a sip of his beer, "Well

done, Miss Dean. Are you the youngest Healer then?"

"Currently? Yea." He grinned and took another sip of his beer, and Mira

couldn't help but blush slightly at his compliments. She didn't know why,

but Mr. Wood made her feel both uncomfortable and extremely beautiful from the

amount of attention he was giving her.

She took another drink, "And what do you do, Mr. Wood?"

"Quidditch."

"Ah, what team?"

He grinned, "Yer a fan then?"

"Of sorts."

"Kensington."

Mira nodded, "Keeper, right?"

Oliver nodded, "And Captain."

This time Mira grinned, "Very nice, Mr. Wood. George and I will have to go

to one of your games then."

She took another sip of her drink and looked over at George who was sitting

awfully close to Katie Bell. Mira's eyes narrowed slightly; Katie was pretty,

she had wavy blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

Oliver noticed the look on Mira's face and tried to use this to his

advantage. He leaned closer to Mira and whispered softly into her ear, "They used to

date, you know."

Mira recoiled in surprise and stared at Oliver, trying to understand exactly

what she had just heard. "When?"

"His sixth and seventh years I think."

"Two whole years?"

"Aye." Mira's hand balled into a fist under a table and she took another

large gulp of her tea. "Need another, Miss Dean?"

Mira nodded her head, not thinking clearly. How could George be jealous of

Richard whom she had dated for a few weeks when he was drinking and chatting

with his ex of two years! And he was sitting so close to her! And he was

ignoring his current girlfriend!

Oliver returned with Mira's drink and she grabbed it quickly and took two

long drags before slamming the empty glass back on the table. Oliver was

slightly surprised, "My, are you Irish?"

"My dad is."

Oliver smiled, "Want another?"

Mira shook her head, "I'll just go get a shot of vodka."

Oliver stood and blocked her way to the bar. "Mira," he said quietly, "are

you sure you want to have two Long Island Ice Teas and straight vodka?"

"No offense, Oliver. But I think I know how much I can handle."

Oliver nodded and put his hands up to let her pass him. But he followed her

to the bar, just to be sure.

"Just a shot of Grey Goose, please." The bartender handed her a shot glass

and filled it. Mira raised the glass towards Oliver and downed it. "One

more please." Before Oliver could stop her, she downed the second shot, her

mind now fuzzy.

"Hit ya yet?"

"Mildly." She looked him up and down and cocked an eyebrow, "How much have

you had?"

He had noticed the path her eyes had taken and grinned, "Maybe a little more

should do the trick." He order two shot glasses filled with whiskey and

downed them both before taking Mira's hand and led her to the dance floor before

she could protest.

It was a techno song with a fantastic beat that almost drove the alcohol

straight to Mira's head and before she knew what was going on, she was a dancing

fiend. The beat ran through her blood. Oliver watched her for a moment

before she grabbed his arm and pulled him close to her. She dragged her hands

down his side and on her way back up, she locked her steel grey-green eyes with

his dark brown ones. She shivered slightly when he ran his hands down her

arms and let them settle on her hips which she swayed. Never before had she

danced like this. It could have only been the alcohol.

All thoughts of George and Katie fled her mind when she was dancing with

Oliver. She could barely even think; all there was was Oliver and the beat of

the club. But most of all, she was enjoying herself. Oliver made her almost

feel beautiful, even though she was sweaty from dancing. She didn't mind

that his hands were traveling over her body, practically groping her. Then a

seductively slow song came on that still had a thumping bass. Mira turned

around and swayed her bum against Oliver's groin, and leaned her head back against

his shoulder. She could feel his chest vibrate with a guttural grunt. She

loved it and rubbed her bum against his groin more, his hands running up and

down her thighs. They continued dancing like this until the song changed

back to more fast paced and Mira stopped, saying, "I need another drink."

Oliver could only nod.

They walked over to the bar and Oliver ordered them two beers. Mira looked

over at her table and saw the slew of empty glasses on their table. Her eyes

traveled up and saw George's finger trailing down Katie's face. Her eyes

darted to his other hand, which was interlocked with Katie's. She turned back

around to the bar as the color drained from her face. She took her mug and

took a long sip.

"Are you all right, love?"

Mira looked up and locked eyes with Oliver, before finishing off her mug.

Oliver looked over at the table and saw exactly what Mira did. He took a

drink of his beer and shook his head, "I'm sure it's nothing, love." Mira

ordered another beer from the bartender and finished it off just as Oliver was

finishing off his first. She grabbed his hand and brought him back to the dance

floor. She wanted to George see them dancing dirtily...

But what she didn't know was that George was too preoccupied with Katie to

even notice Mira and Oliver dancing on the dance floor. Verity noticed,

however, but decided to keep her mouth shut; she didn't know how George and Mira's

relationship worked, and didn't want to interfere with her boss's life.

Mira got so caught up in the beat again that she completely forgot that she

was trying (and failing) to make George jealous. Oliver's hands were all over

her body, and she liked it. She turned around to face him, still dancing,

when Oliver's eyes bore into her own. His deep brown eyes were slightly

glassy from all the alcohol he drank, but Mira didn't notice since hers were glassy

too. She brushed a hand on his cheek, still staring into his eyes. She

was slightly taken aback when his lips brushed up against hers, but soon she was

kissing him back.

They kissed lightly for a few minutes when Oliver took her hands and took her

to a nook near the bathroom. Her mind was cloudy from the kiss and from the

alcohol and moaned softly when he pushed her against the cold wall and kissed

her harder this time. He was a different kiss than George, but she barely

noticed, her hands entwined in Oliver's hair, all thoughts of George and Katie

left her mind.

They broke apart and Oliver whispered throatily, "Want to leave?"

She swallowed and nodded. He took her hand and they walked back to the

table to grab their coats. As they walked up, Mira saw George kissing - _kissing_!

Katie. But she didn't mind. She was barely hurt. They'd only been

dating officially for a few days. And hadn't she known better...

Oliver and Mira grabbed her coats without anyone noticing. She put on her

jacket and grabbed her clutch before taking Oliver's hand again. "Your place

or mine?" he whispered into her ear when they had walked outside.

She shivered because of the cold and his breath on her neck. "Yours."

A/N: AHHHH!!! If you're reading this, you're going to kill me, aren't

you?? And I know, I know! They've only been dating for a few days and already

George is back to kissing Katie!! Perhaps we'll hear their story later

on...hopefully I will update soon, after finals...REVIEW!!!


	13. Sexy time?

A/N: So I don't know WHY the last update was so screwed up format wise….I'm using a freaking PC at school now instead of my normal iBook, so I think when I copied/pasted/emailed, it got all messed up…sorry!! And sorry that that was kinda a cliffie….and I know it was kinda unexpected, but I just really, really, really wanted Oliver in the story, and kinda wanted to throw him in there. But perhaps we'll see the aftermath of this/why George DID kiss Katie and maybe she'll be a bitch…but I totally wanted to throw in a George/Oliver/Mira sex scene, but I thought that was little much….is anyone still reading out there? Sorry I took so long to update this last time, but the transition to college has been rough, considering I'm taking INSANELY hard classes!! So since this has been an insanely long author's note…..here we go!

--------------------------------------------

Oliver unlocked his front door, and taking Mira's hand nearly dragged her inside before slamming the door shut and pushing her against it. She nearly fell from the impact, but all thoughts of the bruises she'd likely have the next day disappeared when Oliver was attacking her lips with kisses. And not soft kisses, but long, passionate, bruising kisses. She nearly fell again, weak at the knees from his aggressive kisses. His one hand was pressed against her hip, the other slowly climbing up underneath her shirt starting at the top of her pants. Mira's hands were entwined in his light brown hair.

He moved his lips down to her neck and sucked more delicately on her pulse point, she moaned softly, and rubber her foot against his leg. He grunted against her, his left hand now finally on her left breast. She managed to whisper, "Bed?"

Oliver nodded, and pulling up on her thighs, she jumped into his grasp, her legs now around his waist. She began to kiss him as he started to walk to his bedroom. He accidentally knocked into a wall, but neither minded, as they were both drunk. She laughed and grabbed his face in her hands, looking down into his eyes. "Bedroom?"

He groaned, and tried to capture her lips, but she pulled away. "Come on, bedroom!" Mira giggled as Oliver nearly ran into his bedroom. They toppled onto the bed in a heap, and began to kiss furiously again.

Oliver was on top, and paused for a second to look into her eyes. "You sure about this?"

Mira nodded, thinking, 'Why does everyone always ask me that?' She pulled his head down and kissed him again. He kneeled for a moment, in order to take off her jeans. He buttoned them ever so slowly and Mira nearly screamed with impatience. She pushed his hands off of her and nearly ripped her jeans off, but before she could even touch her panties, he fingered the band of them before slowly pulling them off. Mira squirmed, and reached for his shirt when he back up at her level. She started to pull his shirt over his head, but stopped when she felt his finger inside her.

"Oliver…" she whispered hoarsely, her hands still on his chest, "stop…"

He did stop, "Why?"

She grinned and pulled his shirt over his head and made a mad dash for his belt which she pulled off in mere seconds before attacking his pants buttons. She managed to pull his pants off and that's when she noticed the _huge_ tent that was his boxers. She cocked an eyebrow and looked into his eyes, now so dark a brown they were almost black with lust.

"You're shirt's still on, love." She nodded, and sat up so he could slowly and delicately take her halter off. He sensually undid the ties and let it fall so her breasts were exposed. He leaned down and kissed her lips, as she fell back on the bed. He pulled her shirt off her body, and took his one hand on her breast as the other hand brought two fingers inside of her. She moaned, and bucked her hips towards him. She closed her eyes and moaned as he moved around. He pulled out sooner than she would have liked and in her apparent anger, she furiously pulled off his boxers and furiously rubbed her hand up and down, and watched gleefully as his face contorted into obvious pleasure. She leaned up and whispered in his ear, "Now, love. Now."

She let go of his enormous member and laid back down on the bed, her dark hair spilled around her. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment, his nearly-black eyes boring into her nearly-emerald ones. He thrust into her without any warning, and she almost screamed in pain and pleasure at his size.

He trusted harder than George ever had, but she wasn't complaining; her nails were raking up and down his back, both moaning, but not each other's names. They eventually collapsed, both having orgasmed, in a sweaty heap.

Oliver turned over to look at Mira who was near passing out. "What does this mean, Miss Dean?"

----------------------

"Hey, where did Mira and Oliver go?"

"I don't know, their coats aren't here."

"Suppose they went home?"

"Yea." Fred looked over at his twin, who was kissing Katie. "George!" They didn't stop. "GEORGE!" Fred slapped his brother's head. "Mate, what are you doing?"

George looked between Katie and Fred. "Bugger."

"Where's Mira and Oliver?"

"Oh, fuck."

"Yea."

-------------------

Mira rolled over and kissed Oliver. "I don't know."

Oliver frowned, "You and George were dating, weren't you?"

Mira frowned, "Babe, do we have to talk about that now?" She kissed him harder this time, and her hands immediately went to his muscular chest. "Quidditch is good for you, ya know that?"

Oliver laughed, and the vibration rumbled through Mira's fingers and feet. He looked into her eyes and tucked a piece behind her ear, "You're beautiful, you know."

Mira smiled, the alcohol still present in her head, "How many girls have you won with that line?"

Oliver laughed again, "Not many." He laughed softly, "I haven't had sex in a while."

Mira sat up on her elbows and slapped his chest, "Lies!"

"No, no, I'm serious! It's been weeks!"

Mira laughed again and leaned down to kiss him. "Who was it? Some poor unsuspecting girl you found at a bar?"

Oliver grinned and ran his hand down her cheek. "You're the prettiest girl I've picked up in a bar."

Mira laughed again, her eyes twinkling, and sat up, straddling Oliver. She tucked her hair behind her ears and smiled, "I'm sure, Mr. Wood." She laughed, "Your last name suits you."

Oliver grinned, "I always thought so, love."

----------

"Where do you reckon they've gone?"

"I don't know."

"Why were you kissing Katie?" The twins were at the bar, getting another beer, although neither really needed another drink. They were both fairly intoxicated.

"I don't know. She was here, she was pretty, I missed her…"

"But you have Mira!"

"I know!" His head dropped into his hands, "But I probably don't now."

"I'm going to drop by her flat really fast and be back, don't let anyone leave until I get back."

Fred nodded and watched as George ran out of the club to Apparate to Mira's flat.

George arrived in Mira's flat, but heard no noise and didn't see Mira. "They're probably at Oliver's," he mumbled, and defeated decided to return to the bar.

He returned to the club and not even looking at Fred who was engrossed in a conversation with Lee and Verity, grabbed Katie's hand and whispered, "Wanna come back to my place?"


	14. Confrontation

A/N: I'm clearly procrastinating instead of doing work because I HATE HATE HATE doing work! Especially since I have one last week of classes before study period….ick, not looking forward to that AT ALL. I might as well just fail my exams seeing as I'm already doing fairly poorly…damnit. I think I'm still burnt out from high school...why am I telling you all this? You just want to read my story (if there are any out there who still ARE reading this, seeing as though I've only gotten ONE BLOODY REVIEW so far for the last TWO chapters!! (Thanks, logger…whoever you may be).

And now back on to the story I suppose…

George turned away from Katie, pulling the sheets up over his body. He sighed and looked at the clock. 3 am. He had just had sex with his ex-girlfriend who he had stopped dating nearly 2 years ago. And he currently had a girlfriend. What had he been thinking?

Apparently he hadn't been. He massaged his temple. It throbbed slightly from the alcohol and because he was trying desperately to think about what he had done. He felt Katie move closer to him, obviously wanting to snuggle. His body tensed slightly, but soon relaxed, deciding he would just sleep off the alcohol and think about his (and Mira's) actions tomorrow.

Mira slowly and quietly entangled herself from Oliver, who was snoring softly. She put her feet on the fluffy carpet, and letting her eyes adjust to the soft, grey light that was trying to shine through the blinds, walked quietly to a chair where Oliver's robe was lying. She put it on, the soft fleece warming her instantly. Granted it was a huge robe on her small frame, it still kept her warm, and she quietly walked out of the bedroom and into the kitchen.

It was dark, but Mira could still tell that Oliver's flat was nearly spotless. She wondered if it was because he had planned on bringing home some random bird home from the bar, or if he was always this spotless. She grimaced, knowing that she shouldn't be thinking about Oliver's personal life. Her headache was now worsening, so she went to the kitchen to see if she could find Oliver's hangover potion, or at least a cup of coffee.

She sat down at his small kitchen table, her hands wrapped around her coffee mug, after failing to find the hangover potion, and took a large gulp of coffee. After a few more sips, her headache started to disappear, and she was able to think about what she had done the night before.

_You slept with Oliver Wood, you twat._ Mira groaned softly. She had. Numerous times. And worst of all, she _enjoyed_ sleeping with Oliver. Thoroughly. And she had slept with him because George was bound to sleep with Katie. _They were kissing! They had dated! They were bound to have sex…_ Mira was slightly ashamed at the way she was rationalizing her behavior. Even if George _did_ have sex with Katie, that gave her _no_ right to sleep with Oliver.

But she had known all along, hadn't she. She and George, like every other relationship she had had in the past, would never work out.

And that's how Oliver had found her. Crying in his kitchen, in his robe, clutching a coffee mug.

George opened his eyes, slowly taking in the light shining through his window, Katie's hands clutched around his waist. (_Why am I the little spoon?_) He looked over at the clock on his bedside table: 6 am. Better get up now rather than right before he had to leave for work…

He sat up slowly, all while clutching his head. Funny, he hadn't remembered drinking that much, and yet his head ached. He quietly crept to the kitchen so as not to wake Katie.

Fred was already reading the day's Daily Prophet and drinking coffee, "Morning, Sunshine."

"Piss off."

Fred brought his paper down to the table with a snap, "Seriously? Have a drink and shut up."

George willingly obliged, and grabbed the second mug that was already on the table, instantly feeling better. "I guess we better talk." George mumbled something incoherent in response. "Sorry, dear brother, what was that?"

"What is there to talk about?"

Fred stared at his brother. "Well, there is a girl in your bed, and I know that it's not Mira."

George nodded, "I don't see where you come into this _brother_. But this is between me and Mira."

"And the girl in your bed."

George grimaced, "And Oliver, probably."

Fred was almost steaming now with anger, "George, I swear to you," he took a breath, "You _know_ that we all have to work together. We were all getting along, nearly becoming good friends! Why did you have to do this?"

George slammed his fist on the table, "Fred! She went home with Oliver!"

"Because you were _kissing Katie_!"

George jumped from the table, his chair flying back. "Everything is _fine_ Fred. Mira and I were barely even going out. We'll be civil to each other and you know it."

Fred sighed, knowing that George would never take the blame (or even some of it) for what had taken place. And he also knew that George might never forgive Mira for sleeping with Oliver (if she indeed had). And knowing Mira, she'd probably never forgive George.

"Mira," Oliver knelt down next to her chair, his head reaching near her shoulders, "Love, come on, calm down, what's wrong?" He wrapped his arms around and rubbed her back. When she continued to softly cry, he stood up and carried her over to the couch where he sat down next to her, and wrapped his strong arms around her, rocking back and forth.

When Mira was finally able to talk, she laughed softly at her own behavior. "I'm sorry, Oliver. I never cry…"

Oliver nodded and Mira saw that he was truly concerned; she could see it in the way he was looking at her. He brushed a hand down her cheek and whispered, "Then why are you crying, love?"

Mira couldn't help but smile a little, "I was just thinking how I messed up yet another relationship."

Oliver nodded for her to continue, all the while drawing small circles on her shoulder, trying to keep her calm in case she started to cry again.

"And I don't know, I really did think George and I could have been together for a while. And it's going to be hell seeing him and working with him…"

"Working with him?"

Mira waved a hand, "Besides the point."

Oliver nodded, "Mira, I understand. But you can't blame yourself for this. He was with Katie, and was ignoring you…" Mira nodded, knowing Oliver was right, and knowing that he wasn't trying to convince her. She already knew that. "But I do think you need to talk to him Mira." Mira looked up at his face; he looked hurt, worried and sad, all at once. She didn't know that one person could express so much with just one facial expression.

"But Mira," he took a breath, "I want you to know that I don't think last night was a mistake." She didn't move; his fingers stopped tracing shapes on her shoulder, "And well, if you'll let me, I'd really like to take you on a date."

Mira smiled and tucked some of her hair behind her ear, "I'd like that, Oliver." She almost laughed at how hugely he was grinning, and wasn't prepared for the onslaught of kisses he was giving her.

Katie woke up when she heard the twins yelling at each other. She didn't get out of bed, fearful of what was going on, and waited until they had stopped. But by the time they had stopped, George was already back in his room.

"Are you all right?" She asked, pulling the sheets up to her chest. She couldn't really read George's face from this angle, but saw that he had nodded. "Can we talk?"

George hesitated, trying to calm down from his fight with his brother. "What about?"

"About what happened last night."

He turned to face her, "Ok, talk."

Katie was mildly surprised at his somewhat bitter tone, but decided to think nothing of it, and continued, "I've missed you, George. I know it's been years since we dated, but I miss you. Every other guy I've dated can't live up to the standards you've left."

George was slightly taken aback. He would have never thought that Katie would have missed him. "Katie, I've missed you too."

"But you're dating Mira, aren't you?"

"Well I was, wasn't I? Not now though I'm sure."

"But you're not sure." George shook his head, "Look, I don't want anything serious yet, but I do want to be exclusive. Talk to Mira and then come see me?"

George nodded, and impressed by her authority, watched as she put her clothes back on and Disapparated out of his flat.

George had owled Mira that they should talk during her lunch break. So Mira was sitting in her flat, waiting for George to arrive so they could end their short relationship.

"Mira, look-"

"No George, I get to go first. You never told me that you and Katie dated; I had to hear it from Oliver, a man I barely knew. And you got jealous of Richard when we had only dated for a few weeks when you and Katie had dated for _years_! And then, you ignore me and talk to her the entire night, and then you end up _kissing_ her! I don't even want to know what happened after that."

George was in shock: his mouth was hanging open, his fists slightly clenched. "I never even thought to tell you about me and Katie dating. And I hadn't seen her in forever, that's why I was talking to her. And I was _drunk_! That's why I kissed her! She's familiar and I was drunk!"

Mira put her hands on her hips. She was wearing tight jeans and a dark green v-neck long sleeve shirt. She hadn't even been trying to look sexy, but she could tell that George clearly thought she did. "Well, then it's fine that I slept with Oliver, hm?"

"What?" George was furious now.

"Well I was drunk! I was drunk all the times Oliver and me had sex!"

George could barely control his anger now, "Katie and I slept together too."

"Good." She sat back down. "Out of my flat George. The next time you come over, Fred will accompany you since it will be strictly on Order business. We are no longer dating or at this point, friends. We are solely colleagues."

George opened his mouth in shock again and tried to defend himself.

"No George. I told you this would happen. And it did. And now we have to be civil to each other for the sake of the Free Wizarding World." She averted her eyes. "Tell Katie I say congratulations on getting you back." And with that she walked to her bedroom and slammed the door shut to take a nap before she had to go back to St. Mungo's.


	15. Bottle of Red

A/N: So I've actually gotten quite a few reviews for the last chapter!!! (YAY!! Thanks to everyone who reviewed!) But that's probably because it was such an unexpected turn in the story…since I really just write on the fly without a gameplan, that sorta thing happens…and I really wanted to include Oliver more into the story! (LOVE him!) So we'll see how this progresses…..

ENJOY!! (and review?)

**----------------------**

Mira looked at her watch and sighed. She still had 3 more hours of this bullshit. 3 more hours of telling various wizards and witches that they weren't being poisoned.

Why had she opened her mouth in the first place?

Nurses were running around with truth tests to see who was _actually_ sick with something that had even the slightest chance of being a symptom of _anything_.

"My throat feels like it's closing."

"My nose feels swollen. Does it look swollen?"

"Skin is peeling off my back. Wanna look?"

Mira was going insane. "No, ma'am. You're heart is beating normally."

"No, sir. You're fingers are not darker than the rest of your hand."

"No, you're not being followed by ninjas."

What was wrong with these people?

"They like to think that something is wrong with them so they can blame their insecurities and quirkiness on sickness."

Mira grimaced at Charlie. "How are you dealing with all these ridiculous stories?"

"Easy. I play therapist with them."

Mira looked at her co-worker, her one eyebrow arched higher than the other. "Explanation…?"

"Someone's throat hurts? They don't want to tell someone something, and so on."

Mira couldn't help but smile, "I'd leave in a second if you tried to pull that shit with me."

Charlie grinned, "And that's what everyone does. No one likes a therapist."

Mira dealt with these insane patients for a few more minutes before one of her superiors, Healer Walsh stormed in to the waiting room and bellowed, "IF YOU DO NOT HAVE ANY OF THE SYMPTONS POSTED ON THIS BOARD, YOU MUST LEAVE ST. MUNGO'S AT ONCE. IF YOU LIE TO A HEALER AND WE FIND OUT, YOU WILL BE DEALT WITH BY THE MINISTRY!" There were whispers amongst the patients. "THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING. PLEASE MAKE AN ORDERLY EXIT FROM THE BUILDING NOW."

Mira watched in relief as a hoard of people left the hospital. She and the other Healers and Nurses who were dealing with all the hysteria ran up to Healer Walsh and proceeded to try and hug him. "Off me! Back to work! There are real patients to deal with, please!" Everyone nodded, relieved to be dealing with actual sick people. "But if anyone _does_ come in and has been poisoned, page me immediately."

Mira walked to one of her patient's room and checked her watch again. 2.5 more hours….

------------------

"George, m'boy! Where are those extra Muggle toys?"

"In the back."

"Yes, yes, where?"

"In a box labeled 'Muggle Toys'."

"Quit being fresh, mister!"

"Who are you? Grandmum?"

Fred poked his head out of the back room. "Don't even kid."

"Apologies."

The twins were in better spirits than they had been days earlier with the whole "Katie/Oliver Debacle" as they now referred to it…when they ever did refer to it. Which was actually never, since Katie always seemed to be around.

Fred shook his head, having noticed he was thinking to himself again…as he had been lately. Since the whole "Katie/Oliver Debacle." And the fact that he had to sit through an entire Quidditch game with Katie and George, and _thankfully_ Hermione. But she wouldn't speak to George. And neither would Ginny after the game. It was true what they said, wasn't it? Chicks before dicks? Fred shook his head again and picked up the box filled with the Muggle toys. He knew George wasn't as happy with Katie as he had been with Mira. But if he could only get a hold of Mira…

She was very hard to track down these past couple of days. He tried owling her, faxing her office (once Verity showed him how a fax machine worked) and even popped round to her flat a few times. Fred missed her presence, has he had grown so used to it in the past few weeks. He sighed and put the box down in the front of the store so he could stock them when the bell tinkled on the door.

"Ohhh Georgie!!" Fred cringed slightly and tried to hide behind some shelves. He had started out hating Katie because he partially blamed her for pushing Mira out of the picture, but at George's request, tried to lighten up. But she was getting on his last nerve. She was just so…

Insufferable.

He used to like Katie, back in Hogwarts, but she had broken George's heart. He'd finally gotten over her (thanks to a few random dates and inevitably the amount of work the shop needed in order to survive), and just when things were getting good with Mira, she came back to mess things up. Of course Fred didn't only blame Katie…it was also George's fault for not telling Mira about Katie and for indirectly pushing her away. He sighed again and gave up trying to stock, and decided he needed to go owl Hermione, the only one who could maybe help him sort out his muddled mind.

And maybe help him stop talking to himself in his head. He had to admit, he was spooking himself out.

--------------

The third date. Wasn't that the date that the couple would usually have sex? Mira sighed and attempted to scrunch her hair so it was semi-wavy. That's what she _thought_ she had learned from all those blasted movies and television shows she had watched. But then again, her and George had never really _gone_ on dates…but he was-

Mira stopped scrunching her hair and said out loud, "No more George. It's Oliver now."

No matter how boring he was to talk to.

She pushed that fact out of her mind (or at least tried to), and began to apply her make-up. Every time she went out with Oliver she made sure she looked extremely sexy, just in case they happened to run into George and Katie. "I'm so evil."

She put on her smoky eye makeup and tried not to think about George. Or Katie. But she did miss Fred. He had been owling her a lot lately, but she had been too busy what with the crazy patients at St. Mungo's, her dad's wild new cases and Oliver to even respond. But she'd owl him tomorrow. And Hermione and Ginny too, who had heard from Fred what had happened and had apparently taken it upon themselves to not speak to both George and Katie. Mira smiled to herself as she applied her lipstick, "Chicks before dicks."

She was just putting on her heels (she always wore heels with Oliver, just in case she ran into…her ex that she didn't want to think about) when Oliver rang the doorbell.

When she opened the door, Oliver let out a low whistle, "How did I get so lucky as to take such a _sexy_ woman out on a third date?" Mira smiled somewhat seductively and kissed him lightly on the mouth before inviting him inside. She was wearing a low cut black mini-dress that hugged her curves wonderfully, her dark hair wavy, her make-up smoky and seductive, her heels accentuating her legs.

"Where are you taking me tonight, Mr. Wood?" She lightly let a finger drape down his chest, her one heel in the air behind her, all the while staring into his eyes.

Oliver, barely skipping a beat, smiled and in his deep voice which Mira loved to hear (except when he talked about Quidditch), "A nice little Italian place that not many people know about. Mostly just young Hogwarts graduates."

Mira smiled and let Oliver grab her coat before they left her flat for their third date. And Mira couldn't wait for it to be over so they could come back and just have the third date sex.

-----------

"Katie, are you almost ready? Our reservations are in 15 minutes!"

"Hold on a tit, George!"

George ran his hand through his hair again and let out an audible sigh. He was waiting in Katie's small living room/family room/kitchen area of her small flat. He had arrived 10 minutes, right on time, to take Katie to a wonderful Italian restaurant he had heard about from Lee a few nights back. Katie had stated after the night of the whole "Debacle" as Fred had dubbed it, that she wouldn't sleep with him again until after their third date, which was apparently traditional for "courting". George didn't understand why they had to "court" again, seeing as they dated for two years.

He finally heard her door open and rolled his eyes. She had been getting ready for this date since 3 o'clock when she had come to the shop (for the third time that day). It was now 6:45. And they were running late.

He smiled as she entered; wearing her blonde hair in a low chic bun and a lavender little dress that barely covered her ass. Her heels were much too high, and they were an off-putting silver. But he grinned anyway and lightly tapped her ass as he whispered in her ear, "You look wonderful." But all he could think was that had Fred…or even Mira been there, they would have said how much of a slag she looked like.

----------------

Fred and Katie clinked their wine glasses together, "To the third date," Katie said, as she stared into George's eyes as she took a sip. His eyes, however, wandered to the door…

Where Mira.

On the arm of one Oliver Wood.

Was walking in.

Looking abso-fucking-lutely brilliant in her short (but not too short) black dress and her heels (that weren't so high that she could be considered a dominatrix), and her hair in a way that George had never seen. And her eyes were as bright as ever, maybe even brighter because of the exquisite make-up she was wearing.

George's jaw literally dropped, and Katie, confused, turned slightly in her chair to see why George, and apparently every other man in the bar had stopped to look at the woman who had walked in the restaurant.

Katie let out what George would late describe as a low growl. Mira hadn't spotted George or Katie yet, seeing as she and Oliver were waiting for the hostess to return.

But then Oliver spotted them, and being discreet whispered hotly in Mira's ear, "George and Katie are here…"

She cocked an eyebrow and grinned (as George would later describe it, almost evilly), "Say hello now, make them jealous later?"

Oliver nodded and whispered again, "But if you look around, seems as though ev'ry man here seems to be jealous of me."

Mira did look around, and had to quickly try and conceal her blushing. She brushed her hair out with her hand so that it was behind her shoulders, and pretended to see George and Katie for the first time. She waved politely and she and Oliver, arm in arm, walked over to the table, every other man's eyes still on Mira.

George clenched his jaw, as Katie and Mira said fake greetings, and shook Oliver's hands. "Didn't expect to see you here lad, thought no one knew about this place."

George attempted a smile that looked more like a grimace, "Lee told me about it the other night."

Mira cocked an eyebrow and looked away, seemingly disinterested, but George kept his eyes on her. She said to Oliver, "Oh, dear, the hostess is back, we should go get our table."

"Yes, yes, of course."

Mira nodded to both Katie and George and said to Katie in an obviously disdainful voice, "Nice dress."

Oliver bit the inside of his lip as to not laugh, and shaking George's hand again, leaned in and whispered, "Thanks again for messing up with Mira, or I'd never be able to take the most gorgeous witch out on a date." And before George could even process what Oliver had said, he had winked and walked away, wrapping his arm around Mira's waist, dangerously close to her ass, and followed the hostess to their table.

Which had a perfect view of Katie and George's table. So she could try and make George jealous all night.


	16. Scenes from an Italian Restaurant

Oliver ordered them a bottle of red wine, but Mira didn't exactly care what kind exactly. All she cared about at the moment was the fact that she had to act incredibly sexy and devilish in order to make George jealous. She had a perfect view of him.

Oliver leaned over the table, grinning, "Katie's dress?"

"Looks like a slag," Mira said, leaning back in her chair, crossing her legs and picking up her glass of water and daintily taking a sip.

Oliver smirked and opened the menu, "The pasta here tastes like it's straight from Italy."

Mira smiled, cocking an eyebrow, her lips upturning in a smile, "Take a lot of young birds here then, eh, Mr. Wood?"

Oliver glanced at her, trying to hide his amusement and continued to read the menu. Mira opened hers too, still sitting back against the chair. The waiter brought over their bottle of wine and Mira, taking the glass, twirled it slowly in her hand, and quickly glanced over at the other table.

Katie looked up at the waiter, "What do you suggest I should have?"

"Well, madam, what were you thinking about trying…"

George tuned the waiter and Katie out; why couldn't she just make up her bloody mind? It was just one dinner, and not particularly expensive. And she knew he could pay for it with ease, thanks to the shop. But it wasn't the fact that she was (possibly) trying to save money, it was the fact that every time they went anywhere, she could never make up her mind. The woman was so indecisive!

Unlike Mira.

George inwardly hit himself: he had to stop thinking about her, especially when she looked killer over a few tables over from him. And he had a perfect view. And he knew that she was doing it on purpose. She was killing him.

He looked over at her, leaning over the table, talking to Oliver about something. He watched as Oliver must have said something witty, as Mira leaned her head back laughing. He looked down her body, her skirt had rode up slightly, exposing even more leg than before. He watched as Mira brought her one heeled foot over to Oliver's leg.

But he couldn't watch anymore. He had another girlfriend now. And he was...happy.

The waiter had finally come back to take their orders, and with nothing to read, Mira had to suffer through another discussion about Quidditch. Sometimes she thought that was the only thing the man wanted to talk about. But she had to act interested.

"So Hopkins grabbed the Quaffle and threw it back to me-"

"Even though you're the Keeper!?!"

Oliver grinned, "Aye! Not part of the play at all, but I threw it to Jennings, who was by chance open, and she scored!"

Mira smiled and put her hand across the table to interlock with Oliver's. "You had an assist."

Oliver smiled, rubbing his thumb on her hand, "Thanks, love."

George tried not to grind his teeth and turned to Katie, "Love, this is the third date," he said, doing his best to convincingly smile. Apparently it worked, "I'm a brilliant actor," he thought to himself when Katie blushed.

"I know you think it's stupid that I made you wait again when we've already dated…"

"Oh love, no! And anyway," he leaned in over the table, taking both her hands in his, "it'll make this time even better." Katie bashfully turned her eyes away, smiling.

Mira saw George take both Katie's hands and rolled her eyes. Oliver had stopped talking for the moment, instead taking a sip of wine. Mira saw this opportunity and started to animatedly talk about St. Mungo's.

"Oh yes, how's that poison scare?"

Mira sighed, taking a sip of her own wine, "Dreadful. Everyone seems to think they've been poisoned," she rolled her eyes, "one man thought his herpes were from a poison."

Oliver laughed. George saw. Mira should have been the one making him laugh. He turned his eyes away and noticed their waiter come over with their food. "Ah, looks delicious, thank you."

"Ye know, I think I might have been poisoned…" Oliver's eyes twinkled and he smiled charmingly, "Perhaps you can take a look later?"

Mira cocked an eyebrow and rubbed her foot up Oliver's inner left leg, "Perhaps." Oliver's smile faltered slightly when Mira's foot reached his inner thigh and he whispered hoarsely, "Mira, not here…"

Their waiter came out, and not wanting to embarrass Oliver, she took her foot away. "Later," she mouthed. As they each took a bite, Mira said quickly, "And I'm paying."

"George, I want to go back to my place after."

George looked up, "Oh, yeah, that's fine."

She didn't look up from her plate, but he could feel her foot on his leg, "I've got something I want to show you," she looked up and smiled, "I think you may like it."

George understood, but couldn't say much as her foot was inching closer up his inner thigh.

"Mira, no, I'm picking up the tab."

"Oliver, please, let me pay for one dinner."

"Mira, please, allow me."

"Oliver, I'm not poor."

"I'm not accusing you of being poor, I've seen your apartment."

Mira raised an eyebrow and licked her lower lip unknowingly, (but both Oliver and George noticed), "Have I shown you my car?" Oliver shook his head. "I'll take you for a ride tomorrow…only if you let me pay."

"What kind?"

"BMW."

Oliver hesitated for a moment, "If you pay the bill, you'll expect…certain things in return…"

Mira smiled seductively again, "And?"

Oliver shook his head, "I guess I don't have a choice if I want a ride in your car…"

Mira grinned and took another bite, "Splendid."


	17. Third Date Diaster

A/N: Thanks for the abundance of reviews, really. Thanks.

Sorry, I really shouldn't be SO angry, but where have all my readers gone? If you're not happy with something…LET ME KNOW IN A REVIEW!!!

Enjoy?

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Mira slipped her credit card onto the bill, and took another sip of her wine while Oliver continued to stare at her, obviously perturbed that she had paid. The waiter came soon enough, and Mira took her fork, and taking a forkful of the cheesecake, motioned for Oliver to lean closer so she could feed it to him. Out of the corner of her, she saw George watching them as he held Katie's cloak for her. Mira smirked slightly, being sure to make such an "innocent" act look extremely sexy.

George and Katie made their way towards the door, but had to pass Mira and Oliver on the way out. "Goodnight, George. Katie." Oliver stuck his hand out for George to shake, and not wanting to seem jealous, George shook his outstretched hand. "Goodnight, Oliver. Mira." Mira nodded her head to the couple and fed another piece of cheesecake to Oliver, but got some on his lip, making him laugh.

George rolled his eyes, and wrapped his arm around Katie's waist. "Apparate?"

Katie nodded, and the pair Apparated to her apartment, since Katie had something to "show" him. Katie, began to take off her cloak, then her shoes, in an attempt to be sexy about it. But George inwardly grimaced. He really hated when woman tried so hard to be seductive and sexy. Woman who weren't like Mira…

And that's when George realized he couldn't be with Katie. After he'd met Mira, no girl would be good enough for him. He would compare every girl from now on to Mira. He'd just get through this night and then be done with Katie. Because he couldn't dump her on the third date...could he? But he didn't want her to think he was just using her for the sex…

------------

"So when do I get to drive in your car?"

Mira smiled as they walked down the alleyway, deciding it'd be nice to walk outside, even though it was cold. "Maybe tomorrow morning? I don't have to go to work until 2."

Oliver smiled, wrapping his arm tighter around her waist, "And I don't have practice tomorrow." They walked a few more paces until Oliver whined, "Can't we Apparate now? It's cold!"

Mira laughed, "Sure, _baby_." He stuck his tongue out at her and they Apparated to her apartment."

She placed her cloak on an armchair, "Want a glass of wine?"

Oliver shook his head, "No, thanks, love." He took off his own cloak and coming up behind her, gingerly moved her hair to one side of her neck, and kissed it gently, his hands moving up and down her arms.

Mira's eyes closed, lost in the moment, "Hm, love, let's go to the bedroom."

Oliver shook his head against her neck, "Wherever you want. You paid the bill."

Mira smiled, "Bedroom." She took his hand and making sure to sway her hips just ever so slightly, walked him to the bedroom where she sat on her bed to take off her shoes.

Oliver bent down, shaking his head, "Please, let me do that..." He slipped off her one stiletto, kissing his way up her leg, pushing her dress up as he inched towards her inner thighs, as she leaned farther back on the bed. He stopped and slipped off her other shoe and began kissing up her other leg.

"Oliver," she whispered, "you know I don't like this."

Oliver shook his head, "I don't care, you paid, you're getting this," he paused, looking up at her, "and you'll like it." He cocked an eyebrow, "Lay all the way back on the bed, love."

She did as she was told, and Oliver paused to look at her for a second, her dark hair splayed out underneath her head, and he smiled, "You're beautiful, you know."

Mira rolled her eyes playfully, knowing that'd tick him off slightly. It was amazing that in only 3 dates (a week and a half), she already knew him fairly well.

Oliver ignored her eye-roll and continued kissing up her inner thighs, and then pushing up her skirt to kiss around the top of her sexy black lace panties (that she'd bought the day before) before slipping his finger underneath the hem and pulled them excruciatingly slowly down her legs. She clenched her eyes shut as his fingers barely touched her legs on the way down. He was _killing_ her, and he knew it.

"That's what you get for paying, dear."

And then his mouth was on her hot center, and her hands were grabbing at his brown hair, massaging his scalp. But really she just needed to hold something to keep from thrashing about.

------------

He didn't even care what Katie had wanted to show him. It was probably just the fact that she was naked. And that now that it was the third date, he could finally have sex with her. She had blown him, but he wasn't about to reciprocate the action. He just wanted to have sex and be done with it. "George…" she whimpered, and grabbed his ass, so that their bodies were closer to each other. "Inside me, now…"

So he thrust into her, and began pumping slowly, but soon speeding up, as her moans grew louder. Just as he was climaxing, he made the most fatal of all mistakes.

"Mira," he groaned into Katie's hair.

She stopped moving, her eyes open wide. And George pulled out, still not knowing what he had done.

"What did you say?"

--------

"Oliver," she hissed, "please, just get _inside_ me!"

"Patience, love…"

"Oliver," she sat up and pulled his head away from her hot center and towards her face, "get inside me now or I will never sleep with you again."

He knew she was being serious. Her eyes were a dark, stormy, grey. Within three seconds, he was inside her.

--------

"What?" he ran a hand through his hair, "Nothing."

"You said her name."

George was completely lost. "Sorry, who's name?"

"You said _her_ name!" Katie wrapped her sheet around her body. "Get _out _of my flat now!"

"Who's name?"

"You said MIRA!!"

George couldn't help but let out a laugh. And Katie slapped him.

He was gone within two minutes.

-----------

"That was a nice third date." Mira's head was pillowed on his chest. She blew lightly on his chest.

"Yea, thanks for paying, love."

Mira grinned against his chest. "Quiet, you. Let's sleep, I'm tired."

"But you don't have to go to work until late tomorrow."

Mira smiled again against his chest. She wouldn't lie, he was great in bed, but he was so incredibly boring to talk to…"No, love, what's sleep for a little, and then," she kissed him slowly, "maybe later…"

Oliver kissed her again, and when they broke apart he nodded, "Fine, fine, let's sleep."

-----------

"What are you doing home already?"

"Broke up with Katie?"

"Why? What happened?"

George set down his cloak and took off his shirt, "Apparently I said Mira's name."

"Uh-oh."

"Yea," George thought for a moment, "wanna get drunk?"

Fred smiled, "Are you sure that's wise?"

George shrugged, "Why not? It's only the wee hours of the morning. And we don't have to wake up that early…"

Fred nodded and took out the bottle of Firewhiskey, pouring them each a glass, "Here ya go."

"To finally realizing that the only woman I ever want is Mira."

Fred raised his glass, "Right…"

----------

Mira didn't know why she woke up, but she had. She looked over at her alarm clock, which blinked 4:42. She turned her head; Oliver was still sleeping soundly and she was thankful. She really didn't feel like having sex again with him right away…

That's when she heard it. It was a muffled thump, but a thump nonetheless. She grabbed her wand, and pulling her robe off its hook on her closet door, tiptoed out of her room and into the family room.

There was a whispered, "Bollocks," and gripping her wand tighter and holding it up, poised to hex, and jumped around the couch.

Where she was met by a redhead.

By the name of George Weasley.

"George, what the fuck are you doing here?" She pulled him up by his shirt collar, which reeked of alcohol. "Are you sodding _drunk_?"

"Mira, please, just lissen," he slurred slightly. He tried to reach for her hand but she pulled back.

"Oliver is in my room, just make this fast." She crossed her arms across her chest and waited for him to talk.

George seemed undeterred by her body language. "I broke up with Katie."

"Ok, great."

"-Because I'm still in love with you. I can't be with any other woman because I'd compare them all to you. Because I love you."

Mira's face didn't change. Of course she still liked him, but love him? She wasn't so sure. He had seemed unhurt by the fact that he kissed Katie, made it seem like it was no big deal. And now he wanted her back?

"You can't come here without Fred ever again. You are only to come here when we have official Order business." Before she could even see how George would respond, she grabbed her wand and went right back to her room and locked the door.

"Oliver, wake up."

"What? What?"

"Let's have sex right now."

"Love, it's almost 5 am."

"Great," she kissed him on the lips, "let's just have sex. Right now."


	18. I Was Stubborn

A/N: Thanks for the reviews!! I know none of you like that George and Mira aren't together, and I apologize, but the idea of including Oliver in my story was just too good to pass up…I do love Oliver…and I was thinking of an Oliver/Mira/George threesome, but I don't know, that's a little kinky…

------------

_Dearest Fred,_

_Sorry your last few owls have yet to be returned, but things have been nuts(!) at St. Mungo's with this poison scare. So, NO, I haven't been ignoring you, only your brother, who _by the way_ came round this morning at 4:45 AM, piss drunk proclaiming his love for me. So maybe next time you could keep a tighter leash on him?_

_Since we have an Order meeting next week, I guess we should all meet up sometime this week to discuss what we have to present, which is basically nothing. We really need to go round more pubs and whatnot to see what we can find…I'll rearrange my hours again. _

_Owl me back, sorry this is so short, but I need to go to work. (And Oliver is always, always, around. Why isn't Quidditch a year-round sport? And why is it the only thing he can talk about?)_

_Let's plan on meeting tomorrow, yeah? I miss you and can not wait to see you, even though you must bring your blasted brother as well. (You think I'm kidding, I'm not)._

_Mira_

Fred read the letter and sighed. He could tell that Mira was still mad at George, and rightfully so. But he had _gone_ to her flat last night? "George!!"

George popped his head into the backroom, "Yeah?"

"You went round to Mira's flat last night?"

George ducked his head when Fred threw a small cauldron at his head, "I was drunk!"

"That seems to be your excuse for everything lately!"

"I needed to tell her that I loved her, and that I was sorry for what I had done."

"Drunk."

"Yea, but I just needed her to know that I love her."

"Piss drunk."

"Yes, thank you! I get it! I was intoxicated, incapacitated, wasted, bombed, out of my mind! Yes I was bleeding piss-assed drunk! What should I do about it now?"

"Well for one, I'll speak with Mira today, see what is going on, and second, we have to have a meeting tomorrow the three of us."

"To talk about my feelings?" George was terrified.

"No, you sodding idiot, to talk about Order business!"

"Oh, yea, guess that makes more sense…"

"Yea. Ya think?" Fred rolled his eyes and quickly scribbled a note to Mira, asking if they could meet up for a quick dinner.

Mira was rushing around Oliver's flat, having Apparated there when she realized she'd left one of her favorite pairs of shoes there, "Oliver!!"

"Eh?"

"Have you seen my black flats?"

"Your what?"

"My black flats?"

Oliver popped his head into his bedroom, "Sorry?"

Mira sighed, "My black shoes that have no heels."

"Oh, yea, they're in the closet, methinks."

Mira rolled her eyes, 'Methinks?' Who did he think he was? Shakespeare? "Thanks, Oliver, I must go, I'll see you later."

"What, no dinner?"

"No, I have to meet up with Fred tonight for drinks."

"Fred? Weasley? Why?"

"Um? Because we're friends…"

Oliver came back into his bedroom where Mira was sitting on his bed putting on her shoes, "So why do you need to have dinner with him?"

Mira glared at him, her annoyance evident in her stance and stare, "Because we are friends, and I haven't seen him in a while."

Oliver did not notice her obvious irritation with him and proceeded, "I don't really think I like the idea of you eating with Fred."

Mira nearly fell off his bed in complete shock, "_Excuse ME_?!?!?"

"I don't want you eating with Fred tonight?"

"And why's that? You don't want me to be friends with other men?"

Oliver didn't look her in the eyes, which annoyed her even more, and before he could even respond, she stood up, hands on hips and said icily, "I'm eating dinner with Fred, whether you like it or not, and you are _not_ in control of who I'm friends with. You can deal with it, or we are _through_." And before she could see his response, she Apparated back to her flat, steaming mad.

Before she could gain complete composure, there was a knock on her door, and she opened it, and waved Fred in. "What's got your panties in a twist?"

"Oliver doesn't like that I'm friends with you or that I'm having drinks, and now dinner, with you."

"Come again?"

"Yea, he basically doesn't want me to be friends with other men."

"Controlling much?"

"Apparently," she plopped down in her chair in a huff.

"Wanna talk?"

Mira looked at Fred, who sat down on the couch. "Obviously. Why are men such pricks?"

Fred shook his head, "I couldn't tell you, but hold up, am I a man or a woman in this conversation?"

"Asexual."

"Ok, let me get a feel for my character," Mira slapped his arm playfully, "fine, fine. I think Oliver is just used to dating docile woman who don't mind not being friends with other men as long as they get to date him."

"Probably."

"Is he any good in bed?"

"Sorry?"

"What, asexual people can't ask this sort of thing?"

Mira laughed, "So how are things with Hermione?"

"Oh, trying to skirt the question, I see."

"Fine, he's bloody fantastic in bed, but a horrible person to talk to. Horrible to date, wonderful to shag."

"Thank you, and Hermione is fantastic, not in bed, I wouldn't know, but we are getting along rather terrifically, which is good of course, I saw her last weekend."

"Oh?"

"She snuck out of Hogwarts to meet up with me at Hogsmeade."

"Ah, I see you've been a bad influence on the young, impressionable, Head Girl."

Fred batted his eyelashes and said play-bashfully, "Oh, don't make me blush! Anyway, what are you going to do about Oliver?"

"I don't know…the shagging _is_ nice…"

"Well I mean, since George and Katie broke up and all."

"Fred…" Mira sighed, exasperated, "do we have to do this?"

"Yes, Mira love, he broke up with Katie, you know he's stubborn, and that's why he stuck it out with her for this long, because _you're_ stubborn and stayed with Oliver…"

"Fred, we'll see. He really hurt me."

"I know, I know. But Christmas is coming soon, and you, of course, are coming to celebrate at Grimmauld…"

"What?"

"Well seeing as we clearly can't celebrate at the Burrow with the Death Eaters probably watching it…"

"No, who said I'd be going?"

"Well come on, Ron, Hermione and Ginny love you, I love you, and Harry is pretty keen on you, and Mum of course loves you…"

"She won't once she realizes George and I aren't dating…and what about my dad?"

"Why, he can come to of course!"

"Fred…"

"Come on, please?"

"Fine, fine, I'll come."

-----------------

"So what do we need to discuss?" Fred, Mira and George were at the shop, locked in the backroom, at 8 pm, discussing what they'd say at the meeting that night. The last meeting of the year, two days before all of the holiday festivities would begin.

"We need to let everyone know, that basically, we've got nothing."

"Great, nothing."

"Do we have any excuses or anything at least? George?"

George, who hadn't spoken a thing, was prodded by his twin, "Ow! We were busy?"

"Some excuse."

"You have anything better Miss Dean?"

"Yea, you were too busy being a prick to take this seriously!"

"Mira! George!" Fred put a hand on each of their arms, "please! They'll understand, it's not like they expected us to come back with anything anyway."

"But that's not really the point, is it? They expected us to do something, otherwise they would have never assigned us anything."

Fred sighed, running a hand through his hair, "We weren't even able to recruit anyone."

The three sat in silence, trying to figure out how they were going to break it to their supervisors that they indeed failed their mission.

"We could say that since Mira was the one with detective experience, and since she was just starting her job, we were unable to completely finish what we were expected to get done."

"Great, thanks, George, we'll blame it allllll on me. The new girl. The half muggle. The one without a general background in The Order."

"Mira, come on, I didn't mean it like that," George's voice was soft and slightly defensive.

"Then how _did _you mean it, George?" She raised her eyebrow, her voice louder than George's, showing just how aggravated she was with him.

"I meant that since Fred and I are already well underway with our careers, and you were just starting out with Healing, and you were the only one who knew what to do. You had your detective work, your Healing career and you had to teach us gits how to be detectives. So I'm not directly blaming anyone, but then again, the adults will take note that we are admitting that we did fail, but that we will do better."

Fred was in awe. But Mira made no facial change, although she was clearly impressed, she tried not to let George see how impressed she was.

"Brother, that was beautiful. Mira, can we tell them exactly that?"

Mira shrugged, her face unchanging, "We have nothing better to say, so I suppose so. I guess we could explain what we attempted to do but never had a chance to continue at other bars."

Fred sighed again and rolled his eyes at Mira, "Mira, come on love, admit that what George said was pretty beautiful. Almost profound."

Mira, still not wanting to give in, looked George straight in the eye and said without any emotion, "You saved yourself from a sure beating, George."

There was a tense silence. A few awkward moments passed and finally Fred pounded his fists on the table, "Listen, you two are _the_ most stubborn gits in all of sodding Britain, and if you don't make up, well, I don't even know what I'll do. I probably won't talk to either of you," he paused, calming down, "seriously you two. You need to make up. Look, I love you both dearly, but you _need_ to put the past behind you. George made a mistake. He was drunk. Apparently he likes to act like a bloody idiot when he's drunk. And Mira, yea, you might have been in the wrong, but two wrongs don't make a right. Maybe sleeping with Oliver wasn't the best decision." Mira audibly huffed and crossed her arms across her chest, leaning back in her chair. "But you need to put that behind you. You both made mistakes. For Merlin's sake, at least make up and be _friends_, I'm not asking you to get bloody married!" And without another word, Fred got up from the table and left the backroom, the front door's bell tinkling, signaling that he had left the store all together.

"Wow, I've never seen Fred freak out like that."

George nodded, "He doesn't very often." He looked into her eyes and said softly, "I'd like to be friends, if you'll forgive me."

Mira sighed, knowing full well that even if Fred hadn't freaked out and left, she would have eventually forgiven him. "Yea, we're past forgiveness, we'll just start over, yea? As friends."

George was obviously disappointed, especially since he had proclaimed his love for her less than 24 hours ago, "Yea, course."

"And I'm still dating Oliver."

George tried to smile, "I wasn't going to ask you to dump him."

Mira nodded and left it at that. Looking at her watch she said, "Well, I guess we better head to the meeting."

A/N: Wow, sorry that took so long/sucked/didn't really go anywhere. But I guess it got them to get back to where they were. Mira and Oliver will have make up and break up sex, and then it'll be Christmas. Let's just pretend it's 2 weeks or so to Christmas. That'll be easiest. Please review? K, thanks.


	19. Simply Having

A/N: Even though no one seems to be reading this, for whatever reason I'm still updating….ok, cool. Thanks though to **padfootedmoony** for the lone review!! (You should feel honored….I never ever ever thank a reviewer in an update, even when I wrote stories within the Tortall realm (see my other profile: AtlantaEnchanted which has not been touched in agessss)

Anyway, here's an update for whoever the hell is still reading this. And for whoever is, God Speed!!

----------------------------

"Oh, Mira dear, how are you?" Mrs. Weasley gave her a hug, but when she saw George come up the stairs she said coldly, "George, they're already downstairs and I hope you've eaten because there's nothing left." She took Mira by the hand as George stood in the foyer, dumbfounded.

"Don't worry, dear, Ginny told me everything that happened," she patted her on the shoulder as she sat Mira at the table. "He'll come around, I'm sure, and see that he made a terrible mistake. That Katie girl seems like such a harlot."

Mira couldn't help but smile, even though she felt guilty about Oliver. She liked Mrs. Weasley and wanted the woman to like her.

"Oh, Mrs. Weasley, no please! I couldn't eat anything! Shouldn't we get down to the meeting anyway?"

Slightly crestfallen, Mrs. Weasley nodded.

Mira sat in a chair next to Fred. She tapped him on the shoulder, but he ignored her. George was sitting on the other side of his twin, staring directly in front of him.

"It's going to be a short meeting tonight, just to wrap everything up before the holidays. Uh, George, do you have anything for us?"

"Uh, no but-"

"Ok, that's fine, moving on…"

Mira didn't pay much attention for the next ten minutes until the meeting was adjourned. She was trying to figure out how she'd deal with Oliver. And Christmas. Did Mrs. Weasley know she was going to be staying? And certainly her dad didn't want to stay with them…

Mira left the meeting quickly, saying quick good-byes to Mrs. And Mr. Weasley, who said they'd see her for Christmas. She smiled, relieved that they were both expecting her, and pleased to have her stay with them, despite her current situation with George.

She Apparated to her flat, and shed her coat quickly, wanting to eat something fast and go to bed. She didn't want to deal with anything now.

"Where have you been?"

Mira jumped and grabbed her wand from her pocket before she turned around and saw Oliver sitting on her couch. "What the fuck do you think you're doing here?"

"Waiting for you to come home, I missed you."

"Oliver, I fucking broke up with you before!"

"Mira, why such foul language?"

Mira clenched her fists, trying to keep calm. "Oliver, you can't just show up at someone's flat. _Especially_ when that someone is an ex. An angry ex."

"Love, why would you be angry?"

Mira was getting infuriated, "Are you being serious right now? You're trying to control who I'm friends with."

"What, by not wanting you to go have dinner with Fred?"

She was utterly confused how he could stay so nonchalant during all this, as if he knew she'd come crawling back. "Yes. Because you're trying to dictate who I'm friends with. And also because you're extremely boring, always talking about Quidditch. The only reason I'm still seeing you is for the sex and to make George jealous."

That hurt him. His smiled faltered only for a second, but she noticed. Maybe now he'd leave?

"So you're definetly breaking up with me?"

"Yes, Oliver, I'm really sorry."

"Ok, but first we need to do something."

"What?" She was confused, especially as he started to walk closer to her, as though stalking his prey.

"Whenever I break up with someone, I always have good-bye sex."

"Good-bye sex?"

"Yea," he licked his lips, staring at her own, "and it's always more rough and pleasurable because both people are so mad at each other…"

Before Mira could react he had pushed her against the far living room wall, his tongue already in her hot mouth, his hands roughly roaming her body, and all she could do was moan. She knew this was wrong, knew that this would want her to stay with him, if for even a little longer. She hesitated, and he noticed, saying, "I promise you I'll leave in the morning and never bother you again."

Mira nodded, out of breath, "How are you so okay with this?"

"I figured you'd eventually break up with me. You and George seem near-perfect for each other. And besides, this was just fun anyway, wasn't it?"

Mira nodded and he attacked her neck, making her moan again, "Where do you want to do it?"

"Everywhere," he whispered into her mouth, "but first, the kitchen."

He carried her to the kitchen and before he set her on the counter, he unbuttoned her jeans and pulled them down forcefully. She was surprised as to how rough he was being, but a part of her liked it. A lot.

------------------------

Mira woke up the next morning, later than she would have liked, since she wasn't able to set her alarm since she was….preoccupied. She turned over and was relieved to see that Oliver had already left. He'd stay true to his word.

She went over to the window and pulled open the drapes. She didn't have to work today thankfully, or until the day after Christmas. She wasn't sure how she'd gotten so much time off, but she didn't mind.

She went into the kitchen to make some coffee and put on the news. She'd go into the office today, to tell her Dad her Christmas plans, and than she'd start packing to move into Grimmauld Place.

"Top o' the mornin' to ya, Pop."

Her dad looked up from the file he was reading, "Are you more Irish than we thought?"

"Nay, I'm just lettin' what li'l bit of me that _is_ Irish out, ya see?"

Her dad chuckled, continuing to read the file.

"Pop?"

"Please, Mira, that makes me feel sooo old…"

"Well, you _are_ old…..er."

"Ha ha ha. Very funny. Now what did you want?"

"Well, the Weasley's invited me to spend Christmas at their house, and they invited you too…"

"Oh, Mira, that's okay, I don't think the Weasley's want a Muggle hanging around."

"Oh, dad, of course not, they'd love you to stay!"

He shuffled his feet, "Well, you know how I've been seeing Laura?"

Mira raised an eyebrow, "Yes…"

"Well, she wanted to spend Christmas with me, and now since you've been invited to the Weasley's, this is perfect, right?"

Mira smiled, "And we'll celebrate later on?"

"Course!"

Mira hugged her dad and walked into her office to tie up whatever cases were still open before the holiday.

"You going to be spending more time with those twins then?" he called from his office.

Mira rolled her eyes, "Dad, you know I've broken up with Oliver."

"I know. Shame I never met him."

"It was only a fling, Dad, don't worry."

"Just using him then, eh?"

"Dad!" she sighed incredulously, "I wouldn't be _that_ blunt."

"So, are you and George going to get back together? I liked those two."

"I'm not sure, Dad, but I wouldn't get my hopes up. I'd like to be friends with him for awhile first."

"Aye, makes sense."

"And besides, his entire family, and Harry Potter and Hermione and whoever else they know are going to be there, so there will be plenty to do aside from discuss my love life with him."

Tom laughed, "Of course, dear. Now, don't you think you should go pack?"

Mira walked into his office again and gave him a big hug, kissing his cheek, "I love you, Pops. Have a Happy Christmas, and I'll see you after my shift the day after."

"Love you too, dear."

-------------------

Mira was packing some of her clothes when there was a knock on her front door. Confused as to who was calling on her, Mira opened the door, only to be greeted by a giant bear hug.

"Mira!!"

"Hermione! What brings you to this part of London?"

"Well, Fred told me you we're coming to spend Christmas at Grimmauld Place, and I'd figure I'd let you know how Christmas with the Weasleys goes."

Mira couldn't help but laugh, and welcomed the younger girl into her flat, "So what should I know in advance?"

"Well," Hermione took her scarf off, "Molly stays up late, usually, until after everyone else is in bed, not to be nosy, just to make sure everyone's settled. But then, once she's asleep, she usually stays asleep until morning."

Mira cocked an eyebrow, "Miss Hermione Granger, are you encouraging me to sneak around the house late at night?"

Hermione laughed, "Well, Miss Dean, seeing as you, Ginny and I will be sharing a room, it's only fair you know that we will both be sneaking out, or letting others in."

Mira laughed, "My, my, Hermione. Fred has clearly left quite an impression on you, eh?"

Hermione blushed, "Stop it, you. Anyway, bring a dress or two, because we like to dress up a few times for the Holidays, just because we try to be as festive as possible, especially since we can't actually go to any fancy parties."

Mira nodded, "Dresses, check."

"Oh, and no one expects you to have presents for everyone else. Especially Mrs. and Mr. Weasley. They'll give you something, but they never want anything in return. And don't bother getting the older Weasleys anything either."

"Oh, Merlin, I forgot they had older brothers!"

"Don't worry, they'll only be there for a day or two anyway."

Mira nodded, "Thanks for the heads up."

"No problem. And don't worry, Christmas with the Weasley's is always fun, and never boring. It'll be quite an adventure, I'm sure."

Mira nodded, "Did you want tea or anything?"

"Oh, no thanks, I should head back to Grimmauld Place. Are you gonna come over soon?"

"Yea, I just have to finish packing."

The two girls said good-bye, and Hermione Apparated with a Pop. Mira headed back to her room to pack some dresses when there was another knock on her door. "What…?"

"Hey, I figured I'd help you bring your stuff over to the House," George greeted her, grinning.

Mira couldn't help but grin back, "Thanks! Come on in." He stepped in and took off his coat, "I'm almost done packing, just a few more things and than I'll be ready to go."

"Perfect. Mum just started making dinner so we should be back in time."

Mira disappeared into her room, "You can have a drink if you want, I'll be done in a minute. Hermione was just here and told me I needed some nice dresses, so I'm just getting those."

George walked into the kitchen, "You want anything?"

Mira shouted back, "A lemonade if you don't mind." He poured the drinks and brought them into her room. She smiled, "Thanks."

He smiled back and raised his glass, taking a sip.

"This is nice," she said, folding her last dress and placing it in her bag.

"What is?"

"This," she motioned her hands between them, "being friends. Not hating each other."

George chuckled, "I thought we were to never speak of it again?"

She smiled and took another sip of lemonade, "Course, course. And I'll make sure your mother stops hating you."

George let out a breath, "Oh, thank Merlin. She's been so snappy with me." He paused, "Well, more than usual…"

Mira laughed, "Yea, sorry about that. But I'll let her know, no worries."

George nodded his thanks, "You all set then?"

"Yea," she shrunk her three bags, handing two of them to George. "You're _such_ a big help," she teased.

"Goes to show you chivalry's not dead, eh?"

Mira laughed and the two Apparated outside Grimmauld Place, just as it was getting dark. "After you, milady." Mira knocked on the door, and was let in by a sullen Ron.

"'Lo, Mira. George," he shuffled away, slouching back into the main hallway. Mira looked over her shoulder and George shrugged.

"Something wrong, Ronnekins?"

Ron huffed, "Everyone's got dates and what not for Christmas, and I'll be the," he paused, trying to count, "the extra wheel."

"Now, Ron, George and I aren't dating, so it can be the three of us."

Ron continued to walk into the kitchen, "Course, course."

Mira and George looked at each other, rolling their eyes, and walked into the kitchen where Mrs. Weasley greeted them both. "Mira dear! I see George here helped you?"

"Yes, Mrs. Weasley," she gave the older woman a hug, "he was very helpful in helping me bring my things over."

Mrs. Weasley gave Mira a look, and Mira whispered, "We're friends again, Mrs. Weasley, it's all right."

Mrs. Weasley grinned, "Oh, wonderful," she gave George a bone-crushing hug, "you know I can't stay mad at you for too long, George."

"I know, Mum, I know."

"Hermione! Ginny! Come here and bring Mira to your room!!" Hermione and Ginny came running into the kitchen, both giving Mira a hug and eyeing George.

"Oh, stop it, you two, we're friends again, it's all right."

Ginny smiled and pushed George in the arm, "Good, I hate staying mad at this infuriating brother of mine."

"Ouch!" George said, grabbing Ginny into a hug. She squirmed and yelled, trying to get out of his vice-like grip. Hermione and Mira laughed, and Hermione tugged on Mira's arm, "Come on, I'll show you to our room!"

A/N: Um, I'll end it here. And I'll update soon….promise!!! Sooooo PLEASE REVIEW!! Ok, thanks!


	20. A Wonderful

A/N: Thanks for the reviews!!! It seems like people only review when Mira and George are together, so…..!! But I want them to start by being friends first. Maybe some making-out, but _friends_ first. Because they never really got to do that before, did they? And Mira will be spending extra time with Ron only because he's the only other one without a gal during Christmastime….but the whole gang will be around, and that makes me excited!!!

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Hermione led Mira up to the third floor to room that seemed much larger than it looked. Mira assumed because it was a magical house…she had never actually lived in a magical house. "I hope you don't mind the bed next to the window."

Mira smiled, "No, not at all. That would actually be wonderful!" She took her one bag out of her pocket and brought it back to its normal size. "Oh, bollocks, George has my other bags…"

"He'll probably be up in a minute. His and Fred's room are on the second floor and Harry and Ron are across the hall."

"All-"

Mira was cut off when a shrill, blood-curling scream that was slightly muffled prompted her and Hermione to cover their ears.

"TRAITORS! MUDBLOODS! HALFBLOODS! IN MY HOUSE!! THE HONORABLE HOUSE OF BLACK!"

Suddenly a nearly as shrill Mrs. Weasley screamed, "GEORGE! RON! SHUT THAT WOMAN UP!"

The screaming abruptly ceased, and Hermione grimaced, "Yea, that's Mrs. Black."

"Come again?"

"Oh that's right," Hermione sat on her own bed, "I forgot you never met Sirius Black."

Mira's eyes widened, "Wasn't he the one who escaped from Azkaban?"

Hermione huffed, "He was wrongfully there. He had been set up. He _wasn't_ a Death Eater, or a traitor to the Order, and he _didn't_ get Harry's parents killed."

Mira faltered slightly, "Oh, I never meant-"

Hermione tried to smile, "No, no, I know. But I guess you should know before you say something to Harry. He's still very sensitive about the whole thing…" Hermione sighed, "Anyway, this is Sirius' family's house and he got it, even though they had disowned him."

"What for?"

"Amongst other things? For not being a Slytherin, for apparently putting the family name to shame by befriending those who weren't Purebloods."

"Oh, his family was one of those?"

"Related to the Malfoys and everything. His brother joined the Death Eaters. But anyway, when Sirius died, the house went to Harry, seeing as he was Sirius' godson and all."

Mira nodded, not really sure what to say.

"But the painting is his mother, and trust me, even Sirius could not shut her up, but someone finally managed to semi-glue her drapes. Although every once and a while it comes loose and she goes bonkers. We always try to be quiet around her painting even still." She looked at Mira, "She's not going to like you either, seeing as your dad's a Muggle. She _hates_ me, but I think she hates the Weasleys more, seeing as they're Purebloods."

"But traitors?"

"Exactly," Hermione grimaced and then laughed softly, "They really should have told you all that at one of the meetings. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be filled in soon enough."

George came in then with Mira's other two bags and announcing dinner.

"Mira dear, I'm sorry Mr. Weasley couldn't be here," Mrs. Weasley said once everyone had sat down, "he had to work late again."

"Christmas a busy time?"

"You wouldn't believe how many people fool around with Muggles and their things at this time of year!"

Mira laughed, and then Harry looked across the table at her, "Watch out though, Mira, when he's here, all he'll want to talk about are Muggles and their contraptions." Mira and the rest of the Weasley's laughed.

"It's true, Mira, that's almost all he ever talks about with Harry and Hermione."

"Oh, I wouldn't mind at all! I'm sure I have plenty of things that would amuse him for hours."

Mrs. Weasley smiled, "Well don't show him until Christmas Eve, or he'll never go back to work!"

Mira smiled, finally able to try Mrs. Weasley's cooking, and glad Harry had talked to her. Maybe this holiday she could get him to trust her, so that she could help even more…"Oh, Mrs. Weasley," Mira covered her mouth while still chewing, "this is _delicious!"_

Mrs. Weasley blushed slightly, "Why thank you, dear."

"No, seriously! This is more than delicious, this is _divine_!"

Fred mumbled, "Apparently Mira isn't used to a home cooked meal."

Mira looked at Fred threateningly, "It's not my fault my father is a lousy cook, is it?"

"Oh, Mira dear, please tell me he's cooked you a home cooked meal before!"

Mira shook her head, "Sadly, he has not. I don't think he or anyone else cooked for me since I was about 5 when my Grandmother died."

"Don't you cook?"

Mira snorted, "Heavens, no! I'm always too busy or too lazy."

Ginny smiled, "I'd love to live off take out!!"

Mrs. Weasley waved her hand, "Nonsense, Ginny," she turned to Mira, "well, Mira, I'm glad you appreciate my cooking more than this lot," she looked around the table threateningly, "keep that up, and you can all cook for yourselves! I'll only cook for Mira, Harry and Hermione because I know you like my cooking, don't you dears?"

Harry and Hermione nodded their heads vigorously.

Fred and George both gasped simultaneously, "Why, Mum!"

"You _know_ we love your cooking!"

"Almost more than we love you!"

"Enough, boys." She shook her head, trying to hide her smile.

"Oh, Mira, I hope you haven't done your Christmas shopping yet."

"No, why?"

Ginny grinned, shoving a last forkful in her mouth before replying, "Because we're all going to Hogsmeade tomorrow."

"Seeing as it's safer than Diagon Alley."

"Not true, Mum. Our end is safe."

"And Ginny, _we_ can't go tomorrow because _we_, unlike you lot, have a _business_ to run," George finished dramatically.

Ginny stuck out her tongue and Ron snorted, finally speaking up from his depressed state, "Right, you two barely work. You just have Verity and Lee run the store."

"Oh, Lee works there now?" Mira didn't show it, but she was almost hurt that neither had bothered to tell her. Had her time apart and her anger at George really been that long and difficult that they couldn't have even updated her on their lives?

Fred nodded, "A few days a week. He still has his Temp job at the Ministry."

"_And_, little Ronnekins, we are in the process of hiring more people."

"All right, everyone, just finish your dinner so you can all go to bed and wake up early tomorrow for work or shopping."

The others, hearing the seriousness in Mrs. Weasley's voice, ate the rest of their dinner in silence, and upon putting their dishes in the sink, walked upstairs to change into their pajamas.

"Bollocks, it's only 9 o'clock."

"So?" Mira asked, as she pulled her t-shirt over her head.

"Well, I'm not tired, am I?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at the younger girl, "Go find Harry and send Ron in here then."

Ginny grinned and skipped out of the room to across the hall. Mira shook her head, "I thought they were taking a break?"

Hermione smiled, "She wouldn't allow it, and he knew it was pointless to try to protect her, seeing as she's already in danger just being a Weasley."

Mira nodded, turning towards the window and not hearing when Ron entered the room.

"Hey, Ron."

"Hey, Hermione," Mira turned around, "Hey Mira."

"Hiya, Ron!" She tried to grin, but seeing Ron's sulky expression, she failed. "Wow, you seriously like this girl, huh?"

Ron nodded, "Which is so strange because she's so, well, strange."

"Well, I mean, you can't choose who you like, yea?" Ron nodded, "Have you told her?"

"Yea, I mean, I guess we're kinda dating."

"Really? That's good," Mira sat on her bed and Ron sat on Ginny's bed, as Hermione brushed her hair in front of the mirror.

"But kinda not."

Mira was confused and looked to Hermione, "Hey, don't look at me, I understand this girl as much as Ron does."

Mira rolled her eyes at the other girl, 'Way to be sensitive and helpful, yea?" She looked back at Ron, "Well, I mean, I guess you could just wait until you get back to Hogwarts and talk about it?"

Ron sighed, "I guess."

Mira smiled, "So let's just try to not think about it then during holiday, ok?"

Ron nodded and lied down on his sister's bed, "I guess I'll be sleeping here, Hermione?"

"Um, do you mind? I was going to go down to Fred's room…"

"Have fun," Ron and Mira said at the same time.

Ron shook his head and tried to laugh, his spirits lifting slightly, "Who would have thought? My two best friends and two of my siblings?"

Mira laughed and leaned back onto her own bed, looking out the window, "You're okay with it though?"

Ron laughed, almost a deep rumbling laugh, "Yea, at first I was almost weirded out by the whole Harry-Ginny thing, but I realized they're good for each other. And I know Harry would never hurt her."

"And Fred and Hermione?"

"Well, Hermione and I had tried the whole more-than-friends thing, but it was too weird."

Mira laughed.

"Yea, it lasted about a day. And I did almost threaten Fred, but I knew that he had been so hurt by Angelina that he would never be able to hurt anyone else."

Mira nodded, "Yea, I think they're prefect for each other too."

Ron nodded. There was a moments silence, but it wasn't awkward; it was almost a friendly pause. Ron rested his head on his hand and looked over at Mira, his voice quiet and showing his concern, "How is everything with George?"

Mira was almost caught off guard by the question, especially from Ron. Ron noticed and started to put his head back on his pillow, "I'm sorry, it's none of my business…"

"Oh, no, no Ron, it's okay. I was just surprised, I mean. Well, you didn't really like me at first, and-"

Ron looked at her again, "And I'm so sorry about that," he laughed, his ears turning red, "Sometimes I can be really immature."

Mira laughed, "Don't worry, I'm glad we can be friends." Ron nodded, almost urging her to continue, "And yea, things with George are better. I mean, we're trying the whole friends thing again, and I think it's really working out."

Ron nodded, "He's a good guy."

Mira nodded, "And I mean, I blamed him for what happened at first, but my reaction to the whole situation didn't really help much I guess, so I don't blame him anymore. We both hurt each other."

"So you're not with Oliver anymore?"

Mira met his eyes, "Doing your brother's dirty work?"

Ron got nervous, "N-no! I mean, I was just wondering if you were still with Oliver."

Mira laughed, "No. Ended it the other day. He was controlling. And boring."

There was a knock on the door, "Everybody decent?"

Mira rolled her eyes, "Come in, George."

"How'd ya know it was me?" He grinned as he walked in and sat on Hermione's bed.

"Well, let's see. Ginny's in Harry and Ron's room, hence why he's here, and Hermione went down to Fred's room, which is why you're here, yea?"

George nodded, "I guess this'll be the sleeping arrangements for a while?"

Ron pulled the blankets up over his body, "Guess so."

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Mira groaned when a stray ray of light hit her face. She turned onto her side away from the window, and started to drift back to sleep when she heard a deeper groan. She opened one eye and saw Ron sitting up and rubbing his face. "Why are you up Ron?"

"Mum's cooking. She'll come round soon to wake everyone up, so we all better get to our own rooms."

"Good. I'm already here." She closed her eyes again, "How can you be so awake at this hour?"

Ron laughed, standing up to go back to his room, "Mira, it's 8 o'clock. This is what time we'll be getting up everyday Mum cooks." He walked over to the bed George was in and kicked him in the shin, "Wake up, you twat. We have to get Hermione and Ginny up so Mum doesn't find out."

George let out a loud groan and waved his arm around, trying to hit Ron. He finally stopped and stood up, "You better get up too, Mira. That is if you want any breakfast."

She nodded, her eyes still closed, "Can I still go down in my pajamas?"

Ron opened the door, "Course."

Mira made her way downstairs, and sat down at the table next to Ron, who was the only one there aside from George. "Oh, here you go, Mira dear," Mrs. Weasley set a plate of pancakes, eggs and bacon in front of her, "do you know if Ginny and Hermione were coming down?"

Mira shoved a forkful of eggs in her mouth and could only respond by nodding. She looked over at Ron and George and shrugged. She had not seen the girls before she had come down.

Mrs. Weasley, a few minutes later mumbled, "I should go wake them up," but Ron stood up, blocking her, and said, "No, no, Mum. They should be down soon."

And sure enough (thankfully) Ginny and Hermione came down together, Harry following a minute later, and finally Fred.

Breakfast was fairly quiet, seeing as no one was fully awake, but Hermione asked, "What time do you all want to leave?"

"Maybe around ten? I know I'd like to shower." Everyone nodded in agreement.

Mira looked around the table, seeing Hermione sitting next to Fred, they're hands obviously being held under the table, and saw Harry and Ginny doing the same and wondered how Mrs. Weasley had not noticed. Or, had she noticed and just not bothered to say anything? Mira had to think that the latter was more probable, seeing as it was more than fairly obvious…

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The twins had yet to leave for the shop when the others left for Hogsmeade. Before they Apparated, Ron had called out, "Oi! Nice to see you two are working so hard!" But before the twins could throw something at him, he had Apparated.

"Ok," Hermione said, "I suppose we should shop in shifts in order to buy things for each other and what not, so why don't we split boys and girls first, and then we'll meet up again in 2 hours and we can regroup."

Everyone nodded in agreement, although Ron and Harry knew they wouldn't get much shopping done, seeing as they had no idea what to buy anyone without Hermione or Ginny's help.

The girls left for the Quidditch Shop, knowing full well that they'd be able to find a present for at least one of the Weasley boys or Harry. Ginny looked over at Mira who was eyeing broom cleaning kits and said, "Mira, you know none of us expect you to get us any presents.'

"Oh, nonsense. I'm getting you all presents. Maybe I'll have to got halfsies on some with one of you, but everyone will be getting a present. Expect your two oldest brothers, I don't know them."

Ginny nodded and laughed, "Fine, fine. Want to split a present for Ron?"

"Sure," she called over to Hermione, "hey Hermione, can I split a present for Harry with you?"

"Oh that'd be perfect, as long as Ginny promises to split a present with me for George."

Ginny laughed, "Course. Merlin, this'll be easy, won't it?"

They searched through the shop, getting Chudley Cannon shirts and posters for Ron (from Mira and Ginny), and a Quidditch book and a snitch for Harry (from Mira and Hermione).

They then proceeded to the book shop where Ginny and Hermione got George a specialty potions book, and Hermione got books for Ron and Mrs. Weasley.

They met up with Harry and Ron, and Mira offered to walk around by herself so that no one was with the same person again. Ginny and Hermione argued with her for a few minutes, but Mira insisted, saying she had to get presents for the both of them as well as the twins. "What about Mrs. and Mr. Weasley?"

Mira smiled, "I split that book with Hermione for Mrs. Weasley because it was so expensive, and I'll give Mr. Weasley a Muggle thing or two that no one else has."

She went off, first to the lingerie store where she got both Ginny and Hermione their presents, knowing full well that it'd make them laugh.

She had trouble with what she'd get the twins though. She tried to think of something clever, but she couldn't for the life of her. She could get them a pair of Muggle shirts to wear while spying in regular bars, but she didn't think that'd be extremely useful. Maybe she could buy them a computer, but that was expensive. She could give them her old computer, but she'd have to give them something else too. Something individual for the two of them, seeing as they were so different.

She decided she'd have to go to Muggle London to get the rest of her things for the twins, so decided to do that quickly before she had to meet back up with everyone again, Apparating quickly with a loud _CRACK_!

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Everyone met back up and had a quick, late lunch at the Three Broomsticks before Apparating back to Grimmauld Place.

Mrs. Weasley told them dinner would be in a few hours, so they set up in the living room to play Exploding Snap when the twins came home.

"How was _working_?"

"Shut it, you git. _Running a business_ was fine, thank you very much."

The twins joined in on the giant game of Exploding Snap until Mrs. Weasley called them all in for dinner.

"By the way, you lot, the party will be tomorrow night."

Ginny groaned, "We're going to have to clean all day aren't we?"

Mrs. Weasley smiled, "You lot, but not our guests."

"Oh, Mrs. Weasley-"

"No, no, Hermione, I don't want you, Harry or Mira to clean anything!"

"Mrs. Weasley please-"

"I won't hear it, you're our guests!"

"Mrs. Weasley," Harry said firmly, "in case you've forgotten, this is actually my house, and I _insist_, that we all pitch in for this party."

Mrs. Weasley blushed, "Yes, yes, of course."

Mira and Hermione smiled at Harry, as everyone continued to eat.

"Who else is coming, Mum?"

"Why, Remus and Tonks, I think. Charlie and Bill and," Mrs. Weasley paused, scrunching her nose just slightly, "and Fleur I think. And whoever else from the Order wants to, but I doubt very many."

"Oh, no Minnie than?"

Mrs. Weasley gave Fred a look and said, "You know she hates when you call her that."

The twins smiled, "We know."

Everyone finished their dinner and went upstairs when Mrs. Weasley reminded, "We'll be up early to clean and decorate!" Much to the dismay of the Weasley children.

Mira was changing into her pajamas when Ginny said, "Well, I love you two, but I must go see Harry…"

Hermione laughed, "Send Ron in."

Mira smiled at the girl, "Sure, you can invite Ron in, you'll be leaving soon anyway."

Hermione's smile faltered, "O-oh, Mira, I didn't, I don't-"

Mira laughed, "Oh, quiet. I was kidding. Go see Fred. Send George in."

Hermione turned red, "I can see now why the twins like you so much." Mira smiled back. "You'd rather not send Ron somewhere else."

"Certainly not. George and I are simply friends again."

Hermione nodded knowingly, "Course, course."

She left, and a few seconds later Ron came in. "Hey, roomie," he greeted and plopped on Hermione's bed. "We going to have a girl chat tonight?" he joked.

"Oh, Ron," Mira said seriously, "don't joke about something like that. Girl chats are very serious, and if you'd like to have one, we'll have to make sure it's ok with George."

"Make sure what's okay with George?" he asked, shutting the door and sitting on Ginny's bed.

"Oh, Ron wants to have a girl chat."

George clapped his hands, "Oh certainly! What do we want to chat about?"

Ron waved his hands and laid down, "Quiet you gits, you know I was fooling."

Mira looked at George, "I told him not to joke about girl chats."

"That's a serious offense, Ronnekins."

Ron's answer was to turn over on his side to face the wall away from them both.

"No, fun."

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After breakfast, Mrs. Weasley and her children and "guests" began to clean the house.

"What needs to be cleaned exactly, Mum?"

"Well, the kitchen, dining room, family room and living room need to be dusted, vacuumed, mopped and all that, and than we can all decorate after lunch."

"When can we start getting ready for the party? The girls should be able to start first since we have to do our hair and all."

Mira and Hermione rolled their eyes at Ginny. "Yes, yes, of course dear, but let's clean first, shall we?"

The boys started with the kitchen, but that proved to be unhelpful when they started throwing dirty water on one another. Mrs. Weasley was obviously not pleased, and so made the boys dust the living room, having the girls clean the kitchen while she cleaned the family room. Once everyone had finished their respective rooms and the dining room was done, they sat down to a quick lunch of simple sandwhiches.

"Ok, we'll decorate quickly, nothing to fancy, just use your wands and such." They agreed, but once the twins started to set off mini fireworks too close to the paper decorations, Mrs. Weasley had them see if they couldn't re-glue Mrs. Black's painting.

"But Mum!"

"You know it's nearly impossible-"

"-for anyone to do this but Kingsley!"

"Well than boys, you shouldn't have tried to burn the house done!"

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A/N: I'll end it here because this was unbelievingly long and boring. But fear not! The Christmas party and Christmas morning are coming!!!! Huzzah!


	21. Christmastime

A/N: Thanks for the reviews!!!! I know that last chapter was almost brutally long, but I hope no one despised it. I actually don't know why it was so long, but I felt as though I couldn't skip right from when she got to Grimmauld Place to Christmas Eve…so that's why it's kinda so long….ok, hope you all like this chapter!!!

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Mrs. Weasley told the girls to go shower first while she made the boys clean up the extra bedrooms for Charlie, Bill and Remus and whoever else was going to spend the night.

Mira took the shower on the second floor next to the twins' room. She shed her clothes and turned on the water before looking through the various soaps, shampoos and conditioners Ginny had lent her. There was coconut-mango-guava, passion fruit-mango-papaya, jasmine-green tea-passion fruit, honeysuckle-orange, Vanilla Spice, Christmas spice (which Mira couldn't exactly point the smell, except that there was a tinge of what could only be pine needle to it), Pumpkin spice, Peppermint Mocha (which Mira could have sworn she drank last Christmas), and Madame Passion's Desert Collection, the label of which read, "For those women who like to be desert!" (Mira stuck her tongue out in disgust and almost gagged at this). "Whatever happened to good ol' strawberry or citrus?" She finally decided on the coconut-mango-guava collection, while not holiday themed, she wouldn't smell like something Molly was making for desert.

Mira took her time to scrub thoroughly and lather and rinse properly. While she didn't need to impress everyone (or anyone in particular), she wanted to look nice enough. Besides, she and George were just friends.

She had just stepped out of the shower when there was a knock on the door. "Just a second!" She wrapped the large fluffy towel around her body, her hair messy and still damp, and opened the door to face George. "Oh, sorry George, I'll be out in a moment."

George smiled, obviously trying his hardest not to look her up and down, although he was dying to do so, "No, no, it's all right. I just figured it'd be Ginny in here and I'd have to give her a hard time is all."

Mira smiled, noticing he wasn't wearing a shirt, his chest glistening because of all the cleaning he had been doing, but she tried not to stare for too long. "Well, I'll be out in a second. Don't want to be late for the party, now do you?"

He smiled and slowly walked away, wishing that he could just snog her senseless right there in the bathroom, but knowing that they had to be friends for a while first, to rebuild their trust and all that nonsense. Mira closed the door, and taking a deep breath, gathered up her things, did a drying spell on her hair and walked back upstairs to start getting ready.

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"What color dress are you wearing, Hermione?"

The girls were all in their room, trying to decide on what to wear to the party. Ginny and Hermione were having a difficult time picking out a dress that was decent enough for a family Christmas party, and yet that their respective boyfriends would enjoy.

"Well, I have a blue one, a red one or a black one here, but I'm not sure. Ginny, what color are you wearing?"

Ginny went to the closet and pulled out a bundle of dresses, "Well, I have all these, but oh! I don't know what I want to wear!!"

Mira smiled, pulling out three dresses of her own from her bag, "Just try them on, and we'll tell you which one we like the best."

Hermione smiled, "But Ginny, I think that purple one would look lovely on you."

Ginny made a face, "It won't clash with my hair?"

"Try it on!"

Ginny pulled it on over her head and looked in the mirror, "I think I better stick with black, don't you think?"

Hermione frowned, "On Christmas?"

Ginny giggled, "Oh, Hermione, no one's gonna care!"

Mira smiled, "Try the black one on. And Hermione, I think you should try on that white one. It looks really cute."

Ginny tried on the black dress, and Mira and Hermione both grinned before Ginny even had a chance to look in the mirror. "Oh, it's gorgeous, Ginny!" Ginny smiled, turning around in front of the mirror, "Yea, I do like it. And Harry will too, right?"

Mira smiled, "And your brothers won't kill him, because it's not too risqué."

"Just risqué enough!" It was a sleeveless, scoop neck, black satin dress that wasn't too curve-hugging, but tight enough that her curves were visible, and ended a little below mid-thigh.

The girls laughed, and Hermione tried on the white dress like Mira had suggested. "Oh, Mione, you look fantastic!"

"Brilliant!"

Hermione blushed slightly and looked in the mirror, "Yea, I think I like this one." It was a simple white dress with ¾ length sleeves, and a deep v-neck. It flared out slightly right below her bottom, and ended at about her knees.

Ginny laughed as Hermione turned around in front of the mirror, "Nice cleavage!" Hermione swatted at her and Ginny said again, "And look at your bum!"

"What about my bum?" Hermione's face got bright red as she tried to look at her bum in the mirror.

Mira laughed, "Your bum looks great, Hermione, now stop trying to be so modest!"

Hermione opened her mouth to protest, but Mira held up her three dresses, "Which one should I try on?"

"Oooh, the green one!" Ginny said, "it looks like it would match your eyes perfectly!"

Mira made a small face, "It's not too cliché that I'm wearing green on Christmas?"

"No! Especially a green like that!"

Hermione inspected the dress, "I wouldn't even call it green, I'd say it was simply emerald!"

Mira rolled her eyes, "Yes, yes, fine I'll try this one on. I only just bought it a few weeks ago."

"You were gonna wear it out with Oliver?"

Mira frowned as she stepped into the dress, "I'm not sure," she paused as she pulled the dress up, "a girl can't just buy a nice green dress every once and a while?"

Neither girl had a response aside from, "Mira, that looks amazing!" and "You look gorgeous!"

Mira looked into the mirror and smiled, "Yea, I like green."

"George is going to drop _dead_ when he sees you!"

Mira frowned slightly, "I'm not trying to impress him."

Hermione rolled her eyes and Ginny snorted, "Please, yes you are."

Mira couldn't help but smile at the younger girls, "Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to show him what he was missing, right?" She too turned around in the mirror. Her dress was a lovely shade of emerald, a sleeveless v-neck dress that showed the littlest bit of cleavage to grab someone's attention, and ended slightly below where Ginny's hem was, but above Hermione's. It fit her perfectly, snug in all the right places, but not so tight that she couldn't move properly.

They all took off their dresses so they could do their make-up and hair more easily. They started to put on their make-up in silence, each in their own mirror until Hermione complained, "I _hate_ putting on make-up!"

Ginny walked over to Hermione and said, "Merlin, Hermione, let me do it for you…" she pulled a protesting Mira over.

"Don't look at me, I don't enjoy putting on make-up that much either."

Ginny sighed dramatically, "Honestly you two…" Ginny started to do Hermione's make-up, and Mira, going to her bag, got out her iPod and her small iPod speakers. "What on Earth is that?"

Hermione attempted to roll her eyes, but Ginny scolded her. "It's a Muggle music player." Mira set it up, and started to play some techno songs.

Ginny laughed, "Lovely, Mira. Do you have any Christmas songs?" And with that, Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime" started to play. "That's better."

Mira went to stand behind Ginny to look at Hermione. "I think Fred's going to drop dead when he sees you, Mione."

Hermione blushed and said shyly, "I hope not _dead_."

The other two girls laughed and Ginny asked, "Hermione, why are you so shy about all this with Fred?"

Hermione smiled, looking away from both of the girls, "I don't know really, maybe it's just hard to believe that he finally, I don't know, noticed me and all."

Mira and Ginny laughed and decided to drop the subject, not wanting to make Hermione any more uncomfortable. While Ginny was finishing up Hermione's make-up, Mira sat in front of another mirror to work on her hair. "What do you guys think?" she asked when she had finally done something with it.

"Wow," was all Ginny could say. Mira's dark hair had been pulled back into a tight, chic, ponytail, with an almost perfect poof. "Mira? Wanna do my hair?"

Mira laughed, "Course, Ginny, what do you want?"

Mira played around with Ginny's hair, and they finally settled on a low messy bun that perfectly complimented the cut of her dress. Hermione had done her hair in soft curls that fell to a little below her shoulders.

Mira started to do her make-up when Ginny said, "You should really do your eyes smoky."

Mira looked at Ginny in the mirror, the girl was doing her make-up in the mirror behind her, "I don't know, I think it'll be a tad bit dramatic for Christmas," Hermione nodded her agreement with Mira. "Maybe just some mascara and black eyeliner." Ginny shrugged and continued to do her own make-up, which was very dramatic, but looked perfect with her black dress and hair.

"Girls!!" Mrs. Weasley called from downstairs, "are you almost done?"

"Just a minute, Mum!"

"Well, hurry up, the boys are already down here!"

"Perfect," Ginny said to Hermione and Mira as she adjusted her dress slightly.

Mira rolled her eyes playfully, "It looks perfect, Ginny. Harry will love it."

Ginny smiled and opened the door, Hermione following after her, and Mira taking her time, followed after Hermione.

The boys weren't waiting at the bottom of the stairs like Ginny would have liked, but no one really expected the boys to "know" to do that. They met up with the boys in the kitchen, and while Mrs. Weasley's back was turned, Hermione kissed Fred, and Harry Ginny. When Mrs. Weasley turned around to say that Remus was in the living room with Tonks, Mira watched as Fred whispered into Hermione's ear and she blushed slightly. Fred smiled knowingly, and looking up at Mira, winked. Harry was whispering something in Ginny's ear, but unlike Hermione, she didn't blush, only smiled.

Mira walked over to George and Ron who were talking in the kitchen and welcomed, "Well, Happy Christmas Eve, roommates. What say you we go into the living room to greet Remus and Tonks."

George was caught off guard by Mira's dress, and couldn't help but stare Mira up and down, but she didn't notice. Ron, however, also seeing how good Mira looked said rather daftly, "Wow, Mira, you clean up nice!"

George, who was on the other side of Mira slapped his younger brother up the side of his head. "You twit, that's not something you say to a lady!"

Mira smiled crookedly and turned to Ron, "But thank you anyway, Ron. I think I know what you meant," she looked at both boys in turn and before they got to the living room said, "and you two look quite dapper, I might say. Lovely dress robes."

Ron's ears turned red at the tip and George smiled, "Why thank you, milady."

"George! Ron! Lovely to see you! Happy Christmas!" A young witch with short, platinum blonde hair jumped up from the couch to hug the two boys in turn before turning to Mira. "And you must be Mira Dean, the newest member of the Order," she looked back to Remus who nodded, walking up behind her, "and I hear you're a terrific detective."

Mira smiled, "Thanks, Tonks, right?"

Tonks nodded, "Aye, lovely to meet you," she gave Mira a hug, "and, I _love_ your dress!"

Mira smiled, "Thanks, but I absolutely, _adore_ yours!" And Mira did, it was a deep purple with a cinched middle area and a shallow v-neck. "And hello to you too, Professor."

Remus rolled his eyes and gave Mira a hug, "Miss Dean, what have I said about calling me Professor?"

Mira smiled cheekily, "Not to call you Professor, Professor."

The group continued to talk for a little while longer, and soon Fred, Hermione, Harry and Ginny arrived. The front door opened and shut, and Mr. Weasley came into the living room. "Sorry, everyone, didn't mean to be late, but it's just been so busy down at the Ministry with all sorts of nonsense, and oh! Hello, Remus! Tonks! Mira! So sorry I haven't been able to see you yet, you've been staying her for how many days now?" He shook their hands before Molly came in to tell him to go wash up and change. She announced that Bill, Charlie, Fleur and Charlie's new girlfriend, Abigail would be arriving soon.

Mira felt a hand on the small of her back, and felt George whisper into her ear, "Want a drink?" She looked around and noticed that nearly everyone else had drinks.

Trying to keep the quiver that she was sure he would be able to hear in her voice down, she replied softly, "Yea, if you don't mind," and when he walked away, the heat from his hand on her back disappeared.

She tried to jump back into the conversation she was having with Tonks and Remus about the latest Order developments, but was unable to really focus. Remus noticed, but chose not to say anything, realizing that it most definitely (probably) had to do with George.

George came back a few minutes later with two butter beers, and was about to rejoin the conversation when Molly squealed, "Charlie! Bill!"

Ron visibly rolled his eyes and declared, "And so the prodigal sons return."

"Oi, Ron! Everyone knows that George and I are the prodigal sons!"

"Aye, brutha! That we are!"

Everyone laughed, and soon Mrs. and Mr. Weasley were ushering in Bill, Charlie and their respective dates into the large living room where they made their greeting rounds.

Mira chided herself for being nervous to meet Bill and Charlie, and she was not exactly sure why she was so nervous to meet two more Weasley siblings; certainly they'd be just as lovely and nice as the others…

"And you must be Mira Dean," the taller of the brothers said.

Mira noticing his ponytail said, "That I am, and you must be Bill!" She shook his hand and looking to his right said, "And you must be his lovely fiancé, Fleur."

"'Ello," the delicate blonde said, extending her hand which Mira shook, smiling. The couple continued on to say hello to George.

Bill and Fleur had barely moved on when Mira was picked up off the ground by a tall, muscular man. "Oi, Charlie, put the poor lass down!" a petite brunette said from behind him.

Charlie put Mira down and took her hand, shaking vigorously, "Wonderful to meet you, Miss Dean!"

Mira grinned and shook his hand back just as hard, "Marvelous to meet you, Charlie!"

He leaned his head down to whisper, "Fred and George have told me so much about you in their letters, apparently they both adore you as a friend and colleague, but I think George might adore you as more."

Mira blushed slightly and whispered back, "And I adore them just as much," he stood up, grinning and she continued, "and it really is lovely to finally meet you. I was getting bored with those two," she pointed to the twins, "so I'm very much excited to have another Weasley man to amuse me."

Charlie laughed, even more amused that neither George nor Fred had heard. "I can see why they like you, Mira."

The petite brunette tugged on Charlie's robes, and came out from behind him. "Going to introduce me, Mr. Weasley?"

"Ah yes, Mira Dean, this is my girlfriend, Abigail Spencer."

Mira shook her hand, "Lovely to meet you, Abigail."

"Please, call me Abby. And yes, it's wonderful to meet you. Happy Christmas!"

Mira smiled, "You're dress is just beautiful Abby!"

Abby smiled. Her dress was a light sea foam, similar to Fleur's baby blue dress. "Why, thank you! You're too sweet!" she paused, "but goodness! Your dress nearly matches your eyes doesn't it?"

Mira felt like a painting being examined when Charlie too started to peer into her eyes, "Why, they do!"

George came up behind Mira, again putting his hand on her back, "Mira darling, are these two lovebirds startling you?"

Mira tried not to smile, "Why no, darling George, they were only admiring my beautiful eyes is all."

"And rightfully so," George replied, smiling. He turned to Abby, "And you must be Charlie's girlfriend, Miss Abigail?" He took her hand, kissing the top of it lightly.

Abby rolled her eyes playfully, "Why, George, you're just like Charlie described you."

"I hope you mean a dashing young wizard…"

Mira patted his arm, "Of course she does, darling! Don't you, Abby?"

Abby smiled, "Certainly."

The playful banter was cut short however when Mrs. Weasley announced dinner. To her delight, Mira found herself sitting in between Ron and Charlie. George was across from her and Fred next to him. Mira was not surprised however, to see that Fred was not sitting next to Hermione and Harry not next to Ginny as neither pair had still confessed to Mrs. Weasley that they were dating.

The wonderful dinner that Mrs. Weasley had made went by too quickly for Mira's liking, since the food was so delicious and the conversation and company was just as good, if not better.

They all retired again to the living room with after dinner drinks, and even though Ginny was not of age, her parents, ("Since it _is_ Christmas,") let her have a drink as well.

"Mira!" Ginny came up next to her, "Why don't you go get that Muggle music thing of yours so we can listen to some Christmas songs!"

Mira agreed and she went up to her room to retrieve her iPod and speakers. She turned around to leave her room when she nearly bumped into George. "Oh," she said softly, clearly surprised, "sorry, I didn't hear you come in."

George nodded, and Mira noticed that he looked slightly nervous. He took the iPod and speakers from her and said, "I just wanted to say that you looked really nice tonight."

Mira smiled, "Thanks. You do too you know."

George smiled a little, "And I'm sorry if Charlie or anyone else is giving you a hard time with all this."

Mira shook her head, "No, not at all."

George nodded, not looking into her eyes, "Well, I just wanted to tell you that you looked really lovely, and well," he paused and Mira tried to get him to look into her eyes.

She put a finger under his chin to lift his head up, smiling, "And what?"

George shook his head, "No, that was all really," he smiled, "well, let's go back down than shall we? Can't deny these people their dancing!"

He walked out of the room, seemingly back to normal, but Mira stood in the room for a minute, utterly confused as to how George was acting. But could she blame him really? He had told her he loved her only days before, and now here she was, staying at his house, sleeping in the same room as him, and he was being completely gentlemanly and wonderful about anything. She felt slightly horrid, but she knew that they had to be friends first, and gain back one another's trust before they could be anything more again.

She came downstairs and heard Mr. Weasley, "Oh my, what is this Muggle contraption?"

"Well, it plays music, Dad."

"But, how?"

Mira smiled, and plugged the iPod into the speakers, turning on "Frosty the Snowman". "Mr. Weasley, I wish I had a better explanation than just that sometimes Muggle technology can be wonderful." He laughed at this, and she was glad.

They listened to Christmas music for a little while longer, sitting around the fireplace with their drinks and talking about everything they could without discussing the war. Than Ginny stood up and said, "All right, this is utterly depressing, Mira, put on some music so some of us can dance at least."

Mira smiled knowingly, and switched her iPod to her softer pop and swing songs so that whoever wanted to could dance. Nearly all the couples aside from Remus, Tonks and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley danced. Mira was sitting next to Remus, talking with him, Tonks and George, but she looked over to the other couch, seeing Ron, alone, staring into the fireplace and absentmindedly drinking. She excused herself and walked over to Ron, holding out her hand. He looked up questioningly at her. "Dance?"

"George won't mind?"

"Your Mum won't mind?"

Ron smiled, and taking Mira's hand, stood up to dance next to Bill and Fleur. He put her hands on her waist, and not as awkwardly as she would have expected. He clearly was not the Weasley boy Fred and George had always described him as, which she had noticed these past couple of days. She put her hands around his neck and sighed contently as a John Mayer song played. "Having a terrible time than?"

Ron smiled, and looked at Mira, having to lean his head down a bit, since even though she was wearing heels, he was still almost a head taller than her. "Nah, not a terrible time, but it's all just a bunch of couples, innit?"

Mira nodded, "You just got me and George, eh?"

Ron didn't really respond, "And I guess it being Christmas and in such terrible times and all, I'm not sure, I guess it just would have been nice."

Mira nodded, slightly crestfallen herself, "Yea, I suppose," she paused, "but hey, let's not be depressed, it's Christmas, yea?"

Ron nodded. "You do look really nice though."

Mira smiled, "And so do you, Ron."

"Even George said so," Ron looked to see how she'd respond.

Mira frowned slightly, "Let's not talk about him right now. Let's just…not." Ron nodded. Mira attempted to smile again and said, "And besides, we're trying to cheer each other up, right?"

"Yea."

Mira cocked an eyebrow and smiled with an almost evil glint in her eye, "Wanna go snog? Will that make you feel better?"

Ron tore his hands away from her waist and started to sputter, not exactly sure how to respond, "Well no, I mean yea, but I mean we can't, but not that I don't want to or anything, it's just that-"

"Ron? Everything all right?" George had walked over, noticing the commotion, especially since he'd been staring at Mira nearly the entire night.

"Wh-what, um yea! Everything's fine, I just need a-a a drink! Yes, that's it! A drink!" He walked quickly into the kitchen.

Mira started to laugh slightly, and noticed that George was still standing next to her. He held out his hand and grinned, "Care to dance, milady?"

Mira curtsied, "Why of course, dear sir." He put his arms around her waist, holding her closely to his body. She was slightly startled, but didn't bother to adjust their position. She rather liked the feel of his body up against hers. She put her arms around his neck, and could have easily rested her head against his shoulder, but decided against it. The song changed a few seconds later.

"Merlin, I love this song."

George listened for a second and whispered back, "What song is this?"

Mira smiled, looking over his shoulder into the fire, ""Angels" by Robbie Williams," she paused and laughed softly near his ear. She felt him shudder slightly against her. "When I was younger, when this song first came out, I remember I would always tell my dad that I wanted this song to be my wedding song," she laughed and shook her head embarrassed, "that's so girly and foolish of me. I hate it when girls always talk about their weddings."

"It's not stupid," he whispered hotly into her ear which caused her to shudder slightly, "I like this song so far."

Mira tried to control her emotions and thoughts and whispered back, "Than listen."

They continued to move slowly to the song. Some of his fingers outlined her lower back, and got dangerously close to her bottom. She could feel the heat radiating from his fingers and loved it. She felt foolish yet again for admitting to herself that she had missed his touch. Hadn't she promised she wouldn't be like those other love-sick girls? But all rational thought left her mind momentarily when some of George's fingers moved up and down her left side and he whispered, "Merlin, this dress is gorgeous on you," and she could feel him grow a little bit hard when he said this.

Mira bit her lip, which George saw and only made him grow harder, "George, just listen to this song," but she couldn't help it, and started to play with the top of his robe around his neck.

"But-"

"George, your entire family is here," she whispered back harshly. He removed his hand from her side and moved it back around her waist.

Once the song was over, Mira pulled away and George said, although obviously hurt, "I liked that song and I'm glad I was able to share it with you." Mira smiled and without a word went into the kitchen to get another drink which she brought back into the living room.

Mrs. Weasley came up to her and gave her a hug saying, "Mira dear, we're going to head to bed, so make sure this lot goes to sleep eventually."

Mira smiled, "Of course."

Charlie came up to her than and asked for a short dance, which she willingly obliged, seeing Abby dancing with Ron who was laughing at something she had said. "Abby's a lovely girl, Charlie."

"And George's a good bloke."

Mira rolled her eyes playfully, already completely at ease with Charlie, "I know Charlie. But surely you heard what happened between us."

Charlie nodded, "Course I do, but I saw you two dancing, and he's obviously very into you." Mira didn't respond expect to look out past his upper arm, which is where she came up to. "Not that I blame him, I mean, if I were single, or met you before that lot," he motioned with his head towards everyone else, "than you'd have been my girlfriend and all that."

Mira couldn't help but smile up at him, "Why thank you, Charlie. And if you were single, and I had not dated George, albeit for a short period of time, I'd have had my way with you."

Charlie let out a deep laugh. "But seriously," he looked down at her, his eyes completely serious, "he's a good bloke and probably never meant to hurt you. Maybe he was just subconsciously scared or something."

Mira nodded, "Maybe."

"Well, anyway, I should be off to bed," he called to Abby, "come along, deary, time for bed."

Everyone said goodnight to Charlie and Abby, and soon Ron, Bill, Fleur, Remus and Tonks went to bed too. "See you, roomie," Ron said when he left.

George asked Mira for another dance, and she obliged, not even paying attention to what song they were dancing to, but only to how close their bodies were. Neither of them even noticed that Fred, Hermione, Harry and Ginny had left to. Although they had probably been too preoccupied to say goodnight anyway.

Mira finally looked around and noticed that everyone else had gone, "Oh, George, everyone else went up to bed, maybe we should go-"

George whispered, "Oh, come on, one more dance, please?"

Mira nodded against her better judgment, and didn't say anything when one of George's hands came to rest on her bottom. She reached one hand to play with some of his hair at the back of his head and moved her pelvis a little which made him groan softly. "Mira," he whispered, "that dress…" and she could feel him again grow hard.

She bit her lip and shuddered when he again moved his other hand up her side and inched it towards her stomach. Since she was at the perfect level, she kissed his neck slowly and softly, but moaned when he moved his hand that was on her bottom to cup one of her cheeks to move her even closer to his body. He arched his neck slightly so she had better access, and this caused her breasts to move up against his chest and he groaned again, getting harder. "You're not wearing a bra?" he whispered hoarsely.

She shook her head, her cheek up against his cheek and went to kiss his ear, but his hand cupped her breast and she closed her eyes and moaned softly, causing him to grow harder. "George" she tried to whisper, but her breathing was coming out in hitches, "we really shouldn't be doing this."

"I know," he whispered back, but he continued to fondle her breast, "but this feels so right." He took his hand from her bottom and put it up against her cheek so she'd have to look at him. She opened her eyes slowly, her green-grey eyes staring into his own green-hazel. And before he could say anything, she was kissing him.

He moaned into her kiss, having missed her kisses immensely in the past few weeks. He tried to restrain himself though from getting too rough and passionate, seeing as they wouldn't be taking this anywhere else. They pulled apart after a few minutes, both breathing raggedly. "Merlin, Mira, this dress looks bloody fantastic on you," he whispered, resting his forehead on hers.

"Thanks," she blushed slightly, "but we should really get to bed."

George fell back to Earth. "Right, right. It _is_ Christmas tomorrow. Wouldn't want to miss it or anything."

Mira's heart sank, seeing George obviously so upset, "George I'm sorry, it's just-"

George tried to smile, waving a hand and grabbing her iPod and speakers, "No, no, it's fine. I mean, I agree, we should wait a little while."

Mira nodded, "I think it's for the best."

"Course," they walked upstairs silently, and George waited outside the bedroom while Mira, making sure Ron was sound asleep (he was passed out), changed into her pajamas and than left the room to go to the loo while George changed. He was already in bed when she climbed in to her own bed. "Night," he whispered.

"Night," she whispered back, and curled up into a ball and willed to go to sleep. But she couldn't fall asleep, so instead, stared out the slit in between the curtains almost the entire night. George fared no better. He simply stared at Mira's sleeping form all night long.

---------------------

A/N: Well, I hope that was satisfactory for most! I hope you all liked the little fluff I added in, but also the terrible sadness that I threw in too. And I heard that Robbie Williams song today again for the first time in a while, so I figured I'd add that in. And I didn't use Remus as much as I wanted to, but oh well, this was long enough! And I'm glad I got to use Charlie a great deal…And I wanted to use Craig David songs too, but alas, maybe next time!

Please review!!


	22. Morn'nin

Mira opened her eyes; there was a sliver of sun peeking through the curtains

Mira opened her eyes; there was a sliver of sun peeking through the curtains. She lifted her head off the pillow, even though she was still exhausted. It was Christmas. She swung her feet over the side of the bed and hit a box. She winced slightly, but once she realized it was one of her Christmas gifts, the pain subsided. She'd never understand how presents always appeared by their respective beds on Christmas morning: she knew _why_ (magic!), but she could never understand _how_.

She decided to hold off on opening presents, especially since George and Ron were still under their covers, sound asleep. Ron was still snoring softly. She got out of bed with a loud creak, but neither of the boys even moved.

Mira shrugged on her Cambridge hooded sweatshirt, the university her father attended for two years before realizing his English major wouldn't be able to pay bills in the future. And there was also the small problem where he couldn't continue to pay for tuition without holding 2 full-time jobs while taking classes. That's when he teamed up with one of his police officer buddies, and became a Private Investigator. Mira loved her Cambridge sweatshirt, even though it was much too large, and slightly tattered and faded: her mother bought it a few years before Mira was born. Her mother, Leah, knew it would both irk and amuse Tom, and it had. When Mira had gotten older, Tom gave her the sweatshirt one Christmas, and Mira wore it as often as she could, and especially every Christmas.

She walked quietly downstairs, careful not to wake Mrs. Black's portrait or any of the other still-living guests. She entered the dark kitchen, and after opening the curtains, she made a pot of coffee to watch the sunrise. It had snowed some the night before, making the view even more spectacular. She sighed contently.

She turned around suddenly, reaching for her wand when she saw George reaching in the cabinet to grab his own coffee mug. He grinned, "Happy Christmas!!"

Mira couldn't help but grin back, "Happy Christmas! I hope I didn't wake you…"

"Hosh-posh! Charlie, Fred and I always wake up early on Christmas morn to make everyone a heart breakfast, you know, to give Mum a break since she refuses to let anyone help with dinner." He sighed and took a sip of his coffee and Mira couldn't help but think how impossibly sweet the Weasley boys were. "But since both Fred and Charlie have their girlfriends here, I doubt they'll wake up, and we both know that Ron slumbers like a rock."

"If rocks snored, sure."

George laughed, throwing his head back, "Too true." Before he could let his mind wander to think about how much he missed being around Mira, he rubbed his chin, looking off in the distance, contemplating.

"Wishing you had a beard?" She cocked and eyebrow and smirked over the rim of her mug.

"No, goatee."

"I think mutton chops would be rather befitting."

"Mayhap, but I couldn't stroke those when I pondered, could I?"

"Ah, but of course," she paused, "but George, dearest, when _do_ you think?"

"Touché, Dean, touché."

She did a mock bow from her seat, "Thank you, thank you."

George snapped his fingers. "You'll have to help me cook!"

"Oh, no, no, no. I do _not_ cook!"

"Oh, come on! You _have_ to learn."

"I've been sustaining off take-out just fine, Weasley, thank you very much."

"Tut-tut."

"You can cook by yourself and I can watch." She sat back and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Ahh Ms. Dean, you're afraid!"

"Am not!"

"Are too! Mira Dean, Private Eye Extraordinaire, Licensed Healer at 19, and you're afraid to cook!"

"Oh fine, I'll help you - only to get you to stop listing off the rest of my fantastic credentials…"

George smiled. "Eggs, cheese, milk, bacon and sausage are in the ice box. Be a dear…?"

George and Mira continued to cook and banter, laughing and enjoying themselves the whole time. Charlie came down at one point, but when he saw the two of them obviously so at ease and comfortable with each other, and when he realized that neither had even noticed his presence, he retreated to his bed to go back to sleep.

"See, cooking's not so bad, is it?"

Mira shrugged. "It's okay I guess, but the company…"

"Oh, quiet, you," George smiled and pushed her with his floury hands.

"Oi, watch the sweatshirt!" she yelled so defensively that George was completely caught off-guard. She hastily started to try to wipe off the flour with her hands, and George, still utterly confused as to why she had suddenly turned so sour, grabbed his wand, and waved it at the sweatshirt, instantly removing the flour.

Mira huffed and turned away from George, wiping her hand to her eye. George, wiping his hands off, asked softly, "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Sorry, it's just, this sweatshirt is really important to me and I don't want anything to happen to it."

George looked rather skeptical since it was a slightly tattered sweatshirt… "Mira, you know I didn't mean any harm…"

Mira tried to small, and finally looked at George again. "I know, I'm sorry, you didn't know. And it's not like we don't have magic to help us, but…" she stopped, clearly not wanting to continue, but George wasn't going to give up so easily.

"Mira, come on, what is a Came-bridge, anyway?"

Mira chuckled softly. "Cambridge. It's a Muggle University, a school that you attended once you finish grade schools and things, usually when you're 18."

"And did you go to this University or something?"

"No, my dad went for 2 years before he dropped out."

George was still clearly missing something, and seeing his still-confused face Mira continued, "And this sweatshirt was my mother's."

George nodded, finally understanding. "Mira, I'm so sorry, I had no idea…"

"I know, George, I know. And it's just a sweatshirt, but I don't know…my dad gave this to me a few Christmases ago, and I just love this sweatshirt, you know?"

George nodded, and feeling terrible, showing her his clean hands (at which she chuckled again), he gave her a hug, wrapping his protective arms around her back and shoulders, holding her close. She wrapped her own arms around his middle, resting her head on his chest. They stayed like that for a moment, both relishing the closeness and ease with which they could be so comfortable around each other. Mira began to pull away, saying a soft, "Thanks, George, sorry I got so upset."

George shook his head, knowing full well that as much as he would have loved to kiss her, now was definitely not the time, "Please Mira, don't worry about it. I understand."

She smiled and slightly more chipper said, "Back to cooking?"

"Aye! I think we're almost about done though. How do you think we should go about waking the others? They'll probably want to open all their presents first, before eating," he continued to stir the pancake batter, "greedy bastards."

Mira laughed uncontrollably, "It's Christmas and you're calling your family a bunch of greedy bastards?"

George nodded, "Course I am."

Mira smiled, shaking her head, "You think we should wake Hermione and Ginny up first to get to their own beds before everyone else wakes up?"

"Want to?"

Mira nodded, and wiping her hands, went to go wake the two girls, careful not to wake anyone else up. She gently shook Hermione awake first; Fred got up too, to go help George as much as he could with breakfast before everyone else woke up.

After waking Ginny up, she could hear Ron, Harry, Hermione and Ginny all squealing and opening their gifts, and sure enough she could than hear footsteps in all the other bedrooms. Shaking her head, she went back downstairs to finish helping the twins.

"You don't want to open your presents?"

"Nah, not yet really. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love presents, but eh, I don't know."

George nodded, "I'm the same way," but he nodded to his twin, "but this one over here? I know he's itching to go open his presents, aren't you?"

Fred nodded, "You sure you guys got breakfast set?"

George waved his hand, "Don't worry, we got it under control, no thanks to you and Charlie!"

Fred didn't respond and instead skipped up the stairs back to his room to open his presents.

Mira couldn't help but laugh and started to set the table for breakfast. She turned around with a few plates in her hand and bumped into George, "Oh, sorry, George!" She looked up, her face inches from his own.

She saw him swallow, obviously nervous, not wanting to scare her away but wanting to kiss her so badly…

Her green-grey eyes flickered to his lips and than back to his eyes. Still holding the plates, she started to lean in, and seeing this, George grabbed her face and kissed her hard.

She let the plates fall to the floor, and kissed him hungrily back. They didn't even notice Charlie, Bill and Ron enter the kitchen until Charlie coughed. Mira pulled away, her hands still on George's waist, and pushed hair behind her ear. "Oh, Happy Christmas, boys!"

"Happy Christmas to you too."

--

A/N: Welp, it's been a while, eh? Hope this chapter was good (enough) albeit short…I may update again soon, we shall see. Please review!

-TD


	23. End?

Mira opened her eyes; there was a sliver of sun peeking through the curtains

George couldn't help but start laughing uncontrollably into Mira's shoulder as his brothers stared at him, baffled. Mira became caught up in the laughter too and the two of them could barely stand from laughing to hard. They continued to laugh so hard and didn't even notice when Ron had cleaned up the plates and finished setting the table. They quickly composed themselves however when everyone else started sitting down at the table, eating their breakfast and complimenting on how delicious everything was.

Mira and George sat next to each other, smiling but not saying much. They nodded and said "Thanks" but couldn't stop grinning. Even though neither had said anything, they both knew that they would be all right. Everything would be fine, the way it was before the night of the club.

Mira finished her breakfast quickly, excused herself and went up to her room, hoping George would get the hint and follow her discreetly. Five minutes later, she stood up from her bed as George walked in. He closed the door slowly and said, "So…"

"George, look we're both sorry, we both screwed up, we both still obviously care about each other, let's pretend all the terrible stuff never happened and go on like we had been."

George wrapped his hands around her waist, "Merlin I've missed you." He kissed her passionately, never wanting the kiss to end.

When they finally had to breath for air, Mira, her eyes opening slowly whispered, "George, I love you."

George seemed startled. "You-you do?"

She nodded, "I do, George Weasley, I bloody love you!"

It would have been impossible for him to grin any bigger. He picked her up and spun her around until she smirked and said, "Cliché much, Mr. Weasley?"

George cocked an eyebrow and kissed her lightly, "I love you too, Miss Dean. Maybe from that very first ride in your Muggle car."

She swatted his arm. "Well just make sure you don't become boring and predictable, because I'll probably have to throw you out."

"Funny, very funny."

He kissed her again, as lovingly and passionately as he possibly could.

"Happy Christmas."

"Happy Christmas."


End file.
